[Linganth] Sad news regarding Robin Lakoff

[Kira Hall]

Dear colleagues and friends in linguistic anthropology,

I am writing with the very sad news that Robin Lakoff, the founding mother of the field now known as language, gender, and sexuality, passed away on Monday night.  I have forwarded a message below from Deborah Tannen, who is not on this list but asked me to share it with you.  Like Deborah, who also had Robin as her advisor (as well as Mary Bucholtz and several others on this list), I am heartbroken by this news. She was such a brilliant, witty, and important voice for all things good, a true trailblazer.

All my best, Kira

From: Deborah Tannen <tannend1 at gmail.com<mailto:tannend1 at gmail.com>>
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at 12:58 PM[External email - use caution]
 Dear colleagues and friends,

It is with a broken heart that I share the beyond-sad news that Robin Lakoff passed away the night before last, Monday night. Her death was due to complications from a fall she suffered in June.

I know many of you were influenced by Robin's work and admired her humor and wit. My own debt to her is bottomless. It was because of her that I decided to get a PhD in linguistics, because of her that I went to Berkeley. The seeds of all my research were planted in the paper I wrote for the course I took with her at the 1973 Linguistic Institute.

I'll let you-all know when information about a memorial is available.

Warm wishes
Deborah (Tannen)

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