[Edling] Proposal to Eliminate Linguistics and Endangered Languages from NSF

Thu May 14 10:32:37 UTC 2026

Dear Francis, dear colleagues,

What's the best thing for linguists outside the USA to do?

All the best from the UK--

Damien Hall

--
Damien Hall<http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/staff/profile/damien.hall>
Newcastle University (UK)
(French) Linguistics
Latest<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-french-language-studies/issue/CD2A1DD8E976B0A41FAD71F3512CEC38> two publication<https://assta.org/proceedings/ICPhS2019/papers/ICPhS_2694.pdf>s | Linguistic reflections<https://twitter.com/evrydaylg> | Buchanan<https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/modern-languages-and-cultures/research/research-activities/esperanto/> Esperanto<https://lernu.net/en/esperanto> ( | Brit. Conf. of Undergrad Research<https://www.bcur.org/>

------------------------------

Message: 2

Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 08:11:04 -0400

From: "Francis M. Hult" <fmhult at umbc.edu<mailto:fmhult at umbc.edu>>

To: Educational Linguistics List <edling at lists.mail.umbc.edu<mailto:edling at lists.mail.umbc.edu>>

Subject: [Edling] Proposal to Eliminate Linguistics and Endangered

        Languages from NSF

Message-ID:

        <CAEs-vYGci53uGCa+wOAJQ6xgtsktr8rmFx=pTqFbmtU3=i6MJA at mail.gmail.com<mailto:CAEs-vYGci53uGCa+wOAJQ6xgtsktr8rmFx=pTqFbmtU3=i6MJA at mail.gmail.com>>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Dear colleagues,

I share below with the permission of the president of the Linguistics Society of America (LSA), Prof. Alicia Beckford Wassink an excerpt from the  April LSA newsletter that is likely to be of particular interest to list members.  Every voice matters in communicating the value of research on language and linguistics, whether direct communication with your senators and representatives or government officials, public communication, or sharing the information with colleagues.

Best,

Francis

* * *

The proposed federal budget would slash NSF funding by more than half.

NSF's appointed leadership is not waiting for Congress to pass a budget.

Multiple sources have told us that behind closed doors, they are rapidly moving to eliminate the entire the entire Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, including both the Linguistics Program <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nsf.gov%2Ffunding%2Fopportunities%2Flinguistics%3Fmc_cid%3D3db4ae2210%26mc_eid%3Df1cc3b3b6a&data=05%7C02%7Cdamien.hall%40newcastle.ac.uk%7C3d4fc79d8c7244b81f3108deb0feaffe%7C9c5012c9b61644c2a91766814fbe3e87%7C1%7C0%7C639142805119434321%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=BfUPYHLlBSb2xgwBuOHY5JZ8QUmsTcP21rsp0%2FhLr0o%3D&reserved=0<https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/linguistics?mc_cid=3db4ae2210&mc_eid=f1cc3b3b6a>>

and the DLI-DEL Program

<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nsf.gov%2Ffunding%2Fopportunities%2Fdli-del-nsf-dynamic-language-infrastructure-neh-documenting%3Fmc_cid%3D3db4ae2210%26mc_eid%3Df1cc3b3b6a&data=05%7C02%7Cdamien.hall%40newcastle.ac.uk%7C3d4fc79d8c7244b81f3108deb0feaffe%7C9c5012c9b61644c2a91766814fbe3e87%7C1%7C0%7C639142805119454989%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=FTt6bpZY0IEbVe%2BbUiFpQjQjSwFAyg94lbQVvha4ShE%3D&reserved=0<https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/dli-del-nsf-dynamic-language-infrastructure-neh-documenting?mc_cid=3db4ae2210&mc_eid=f1cc3b3b6a>>.

As officers of the LSA, we are asking you to take three actions:

1. Write to the NSF Linguistics Program staff. Ask questions and express your concern. Send your email to Wilson de Lima Silva (widelima at nsf.org<mailto:widelima at nsf.org>) and Kenyatta Johnson (kenjohns at nsf.gov<mailto:kenjohns at nsf.gov>).

2. Make your voice heard in Congress through the COSSA Action Alert below <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcossa.org%2Faction-center%2Ftake-action%2F%3Fmc_cid%3D3db4ae2210%26mc_eid%3Df1cc3b3b6a%23%2F58&data=05%7C02%7Cdamien.hall%40newcastle.ac.uk%7C3d4fc79d8c7244b81f3108deb0feaffe%7C9c5012c9b61644c2a91766814fbe3e87%7C1%7C0%7C639142805119473842%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3YnHnP6UqtL%2BaVPdy9CqsGX8wPaidLph4oZ2BrZ%2FqcI%3D&reserved=0<https://cossa.org/action-center/take-action/?mc_cid=3db4ae2210&mc_eid=f1cc3b3b6a#/58>>.

We need to tell Congress to save the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate and the programs within it.

3. Help us flood the internet with positive stories that show why the world needs linguists. The LSA is participating in a campaign <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.acls.org%2FTalkAboutHumanities%2F%3Fmc_cid%3D3db4ae2210%26mc_eid%3Df1cc3b3b6a&data=05%7C02%7Cdamien.hall%40newcastle.ac.uk%7C3d4fc79d8c7244b81f3108deb0feaffe%7C9c5012c9b61644c2a91766814fbe3e87%7C1%7C0%7C639142805119535617%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=D%2F75QYbfbvti2BxGtFFimxPT4ZNIfcWNlup3J5RERlY%3D&reserved=0<https://www.acls.org/TalkAboutHumanities/?mc_cid=3db4ae2210&mc_eid=f1cc3b3b6a>>

organized by the ACLS [American Council of Learned Societies].

--

*Francis M. Hult, PhD, FRGS* | Professor Department of Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/edling/attachments/20260514/97cded47/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------

_______________________________________________
Edling mailing list
Edling at lists.mail.umbc.edu
https://lists.mail.umbc.edu/mailman/listinfo/edling