About Societas Linguistica Europaea

On the early history of the Societas Linguistica Europaea

The Societas Linguistica Europaea was founded by the Indo-Europeanist Johann Karl Werner Winter (25 October 1923 – 7 August 2010). Since 1949, he had been a member of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). After his return to Europe in 1964, he took the initiative to create a European linguistic association. The Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) was founded in 1966 in Kiel; Werner Winter kept himself in the background and acted as SLE’s Secretary.

Meeting in Kiel:

“On 26 and 27 February 1966, more than 200 linguists from 18 countries met in Kiel (Germany) to discuss plans for the establishment of a European Linguistic Society. On the 27 February, the constitution of this society, to be called Societas Linguistica Europaea, was formally adopted, and officers were elected. The first President of the Societas, who is to serve until the 1967 meeting of the society scheduled to take place in Belgium, is André Martinet of the University of Paris, its first Vice-President, Wolfgang Steinitz of the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin.” (Press report)

It was no accident that the two major officers of the new Societas came from different parts of Europe, divided by the Iron Curtain. André Martinet (1908-1999), a French linguist, and Wolfgang Steinitz (1905-1967), a linguist and folklorist from the German Democratic Republic (DDR). It was Werner Winter’s intention to bring together linguists from Western and Eastern Europe to stimulate interaction and international cooperation among European linguists. The creation of the SLE made a considerable contribution to strengthening ties between European linguists by providing facilities for a fast and informal exchange of ideas. It aimed to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western Europe, although the purpose adopted at the meeting in Kiel could not make this explicit:

“Its (= of the SLE) purpose shall be the advancement, in European countries and elsewhere, of the scientific study of language in all its aspects.” (Constitution of the SLE)

SLE became a success almost immediately and in February 1969 there were some 600 members from all parts of Europe and beyond.

SLE was founded as a platform for the free exchange of views and the vigorous confrontation of ideas to assure the growth and enrichment of the field of linguistics, without adherence to any particular school of thought.

SLE organizes Annual Meetings and produces publications. The first issue of the SLE journal Folia Linguistica appeared in 1967 (published by Mouton, now De Gruyter-Mouton). At the initiative of Jacek Fisiak (Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Poland), the SLE started a second journal in 1980: Folia Linguistica Historica (also published by Mouton, now De Gruyter-Mouton).

Source: Camiel Hamans, 2015, ‘The Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE): Aim and early history’, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft 25 (2), 287-302.

Presidents and Annual Meetings of the Societas Linguistica Europaea

1st col.: Ordinal number of the year of existence of SLE which begins at the respective Annual Meeting. 2nd col.: Year of the Annual Meeting and first calendar year of the one-year presidential term, which starts at the time of the Annual Meeting.