Established in 1992, the Symposium About Language and Society–Austin (SALSA) is an entirely student-organized annual conference sponsored by the departments of Linguistics, Anthropology, and Communication Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. At present, SALSA has become internationally recognized by graduate students and faculty alike as a prestigious, interdisciplinary venue for presenting cutting-edge work on the relationship of language and culture to society.
Originally created through the joint efforts of students from the Linguistic and Anthropology Departments at The University of Texas, SALSA has developed into a truly interdisciplinary conference with contributions from various fields, including communication studies, foreign language education, educational psychology, media studies, speech communication, and numerous language departments. In the past, our annual proceedings have appeared in special editions of Texas Linguistic Forum.
As a student organized conference, SALSA encourages interested graduate students from all disciplines to participate in the conference’s preparation each year, especially in the selection of abstracts. Each year, the Call For Papers is distributed in early September, with abstracts due by early November and notifications sent out by early December.
SALSA’s rapid development is underscored by the distinguished scholars who present as keynotes, many of whom return as regular participants. In the past, four student-selected keynote addresses are presented each year. Beginning in 2023, one student-selected keynote will be presented annually.
Additional information about previous SALSA conferences can be found here.
Past Speakers
- Tulio Bermudez (Chicago)
- Norma Mendoza-Denton (UCLA)
- Asif Agha (Pennsylvania)
- John Baugh (Stanford)
- Richard Bauman (Indiana)
- Jill Brody (Louisiana)
- Mary Bucholz (Texas A&M)
- Lyle Campbell (University of Hawaii, Manoa)
- Alessandro Duranti (UCLA)
- Penelope Eckert (Stanford)
- Nora England (UT Austin)
- Susan Ervin-Tripp (Berkeley)
- Charles Goodwin (UCLA)
- Marjorie Harness-Goodwin (UCLA)
- Shirley Brice Heath (Stanford)
- Lisa Green (UT Austin)
- John Gumperz (Berkeley)
- William Hanks (Berkeley)
- Kira Hall (Colorado)
- Jane Hill (Arizona)
- Ian Hancock (UT Austin)
- John Haviland (UC San Diego)
- Susan Herring (Indiana University)
- Elizabeth Keating (UT Austin)
- Dale April Koike (UT Austin)
- William Labov (Penn)
- George Lakoff (Berkeley)
- Yolanda Lastra (U of Mexico)
- Madeline Maxwell (UT Austin)
- Hugh “Bud” Mehan (UC San Diego)
- Jacob Mey (Odense)
- Leslie Milroy (Newcastle-Tyne)
- Marcyliena Morgan (UCLA)
- Salikoko S. Mufwene (The University of Chicago)
- Carol Myers-Scotton (South Carolina)
- Elinor Ochs (UCLA)
- Na’ama Pat-El (UT Austin)
- Anita Pomerantz (Albany, SUNY)
- Gerry Phillipsen (Washington)
- Robin Queen (University of Michigan)
- John R. Rickford (Stanford)
- Gillian Sankoff (Penn)
- Emanuel Schegloff (UCLA)
- Bambi Schieffelin (NYU)
- Joel Sherzer (UT Austin)
- Michael Silverstein (Chicago)
- Jurgen Streeck (UT Austin)
- Karen Tracy (Colorado-Boulder)
- Almeida Jacquelin Toribio (UT Austin)
- Keith Walters (UT Austin)
- Anthony Woodbury (UT Austin)
- Kathryn Woolard (UC-San Diego)
- Stanton Wortham (Penn)
- Anna-Celia Zentilla (CUNY-Hunter)
- Ofelia Zepeda (Arizona)
- Qing Zhang (UT Austin)