Charles Hockett’s attempt to resign from the LSA in 1982

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter documents an episode in the history of American linguistics. In 1982 Charles Hockett, perhaps the most prominent American linguist of the preceding generation, attempted to resign from the Linguistic Society of America on the grounds that the organization had fallen into the hands of generative grammarians. The interest of this episode derives, not from the simple fact of Hockett’s resignation attempt, but rather from the light it sheds on the personal and professional interrelationships between the leading linguists of the time. Examining personal correspondence between such figures as Victoria Fromkin, William Bright, Dell Hymes, Kenneth Pike, and others brings into clear focus the dynamics at the centre of the LSA, as well as highlighting the generational shift that was ongoing in the American linguistics scene.