Aims and scope

WORD, a quarterly academic journal of linguistics published online and in print, is the publication of the International Linguistic Association (ILA). Founded in 1943 as the Linguistic Circle of New York, the association became one of the main sources of new ideas in American Linguistics at that time. Its journal WORD was founded in 1945 with a mission to disseminate the scholarly discussion of the day and to become the journal of record for general linguistics. During several decades of intellectual ferment in linguistics, the scholarship published by WORD continued to record the expansion of linguistic ideas — both theoretical and applied. Today, WORD continues its broadly-based mission to reflect and record contemporary linguistic scholarship.

Over the years, WORD has been privileged to serve as a platform for introducing groundbreaking scholarship in linguistics. Among these, Jean Berko Gleason’s Wug test debuted in WORD in 1958 – “The Child’s Learning of English Morphology” (Volume 14, 1958); Charles Ferguson’s “Diglossia” was published in WORD (Volume 15, 1959); M.A.K. Halliday’s first journal paper on Systemic-Functional Linguistics – “Categories of the theory of grammar” – appeared in WORD (Volume 17, 1961); and William Labov’s very first journal article – “The social motivation of a sound change” – was in WORD (Volume 19, 1963).

WORD adopts an eclectic approach to publishing scholarship in linguistics, welcoming original, interesting, and insightful contributions from the wide range of scholarship that is linguistics today.

Each issue contains articles and reviews. Occasionally, special issues on specific topics are produced.

Peer Review Policy

All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by at least two independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is double-anonymized and submission is online via Email to [email protected]

Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.

Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.