Monday, June 1, 2020 - 2:48pm
The following statement on the Novel Coronavirus and Its Effects was prepared by LSA Past President Brian Joseph and approved by the LSA Executive Committee in May, 2020.
 
In the past several months, we have all faced life-altering circumstances due to the Novel Coronavirus, officially known as SARS-CoV-2, and the disease it causes, Covid-19.  The Linguistic Society of America recognizes the effects these perilous times have had on members and on the general linguistics community.

First and foremost, speaking on behalf of the entire LSA community, we want to say to those of you who have suffered from Covid-19 that we all stand with you, sharing your pain and wishing you a speedy and complete recovery. And to those of you who have seen loved ones contract the disease and/or succumb to it, we extend our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies.

We are also aware, acutely so, that many of you are currently facing, and will continue to face, unprecedented challenges in connection with your various academic, industrial, and governmental employment obligations and with life itself; we note as highly relevant issues:
  • the viability of endangered language and minority communities adversely affected — disproportionately so — by the virus
  • the withdrawal or limitation of institutional support
  • the cancellation or postponement of conferences that would have allowed for productive on-the-spot scholarly interactions
  • the inability to carry out research, especially involving fieldwork, experimentation in laboratory settings, archival and library work, and unfettered time to think and write (this last falling most heavily on women, for whom working from home can mean a lack of access to outside child care)
  • the postponement or derailment of educational or career plans
  • difficult personal circumstances, financial or otherwise

     ... and more. The LSA is pledged to do all it can to assist linguists with such difficulties they are facing.
We wanted to let you know about some of the contributions the LSA and various LSA members have been making to affected communities, including our membership, the community of linguists at large, and the broader American and global communities (see also https://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2020/03/16/lsa-response-covid-19 for an early (mid-March) response by the LSA):
  1. The LSA has developed a donation plan whereby members can sponsor a membership for those whose incomes and livelihoods have been compromised by the pandemic lockdown.
  2. Given that many members were plunged into on-line teaching as universities and colleges closed down, the LSA created a resource page on its website (https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/resources-linguistics-community-during-times-social-distancing-0) that offers advice and guidance on virtual instruction, links to course materials, and the like.  Note too that the LSA's Linguistic Academic Depository, a site for linguists to share teaching materials, has been made open-access during the crisis (access is normally restricted to LSA nonstudent members).
  3. LSA members have been translating timely and relevant Covid-19 and Coronavirus materials and information into the languages of under-served communities.
  4. The LSA Executive Committee, in the context of considering various statements by other professional organizations, has recognized that academic “gig” workers such as lecturers and graduate teaching assistants are among the most vulnerable in the ranks of academic instructors and signed on to a statement to that effect issued by the American Sociological Association (see https://www.asanet.org/news-events/asa-news/asa-statement-regarding-faculty-review-and-reappointment-processes-during-covid-19-crisis).
  5. Realizing that our scholarship can be a refuge and a means of uniting ourselves with others during this time of disruption, the LSA has maintained its publication program, as the June issue of Language is due to appear on time, and the fifth volume of Proceedings of the LSA (PLSA), with papers from the 2020 Annual meeting, has been released (https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/PLSA).
  6. To further scholarly interactions in these times of restricted in-person meetings, the LSA has pledged cooperation with the ABRALIN initiative providing state-of-the-art presentations and discussions on-line about language and linguistics, with several LSA members presenting in this forum (for details, see https://www.abralin.org/site/en/evento/abralin-ao-vivo-2020/).
  7. With regard to the 2021 annual meeting in early January in San Francisco, although plans, for now, are continuing with an in-person meeting in mind, the safety and well-being of our members and attendees are of paramount concern to the Society.  Accordingly, we are keeping close tabs on developments with the pandemic, and are actively preparing contingency plans in the event that the meeting will have to take place virtually.
  8. Similarly, for the safety of all concerned, CoLang 2020 has been postponed to 2022; moreover, contingency planning is being undertaken for the 2021 Linguistic Institute at the University of Massachusetts.
The LSA’s capacity to respond to all the challenges posed by the Coronavirus has itself been affected by the virus:  the staff of the LSA Secretariat have been working remotely, and perhaps more significantly, the LSA’s usual sources of revenue have slowed to a trickle. Nonetheless, the LSA is dedicated to making itself a place for all linguists to turn to in these difficult times. This has guided and will continue to guide all aspects of planning for LSA activities in the months to come.