Linguists Celebrate

Alexander Z. Guiora (left) and John C. Catford, professors emeriti, were among the scholars in the field of applied linguistics who celebrated in September the 150th anniversary of the founding of Language Learning--A Quarterly Journal of Applied Linguistics at the University.

In the 1940s, the University of Michigan was a major center for teaching and research in linguistics, as it still is." Catford said in his opening address in the Michigan League. "Faculty members Kenneth Pike, Charles Fries and Albert Marckwardt were leaders in the field and enthusiastic teachers."

The field of applied linguistics addresses not only the processes of learning native and foreign languages, but also the social function of language, such as "correct" or standard forms of languages, dialects and vernaculars, as well as questions of meaning and symbolism, translation, mythology, comparative anthropology and the role of language in the prehistory of humanity. In recent years, advances in neurobiology have opened new lines of inquiry in the highly interdisciplinary field, Catford noted.

The journal began, Catford said, when a group of graduate students, "moved by the exciting new ideas about language and language learning" they were receiving from their teachers and also by their work in the English Language Institute, formed the Research Club in Language Learning,

In 1996, Guiora, who was the journal's general editor from 1980-98, negotiated the transfer of the journal to Blackwell Publishers.