One Ohio State professor recently began his role as editor of Language, the journal of the Linguistic Society of America.

Dr. Brian Joseph, professor of linguistics and a Kenneth E. Naylor professor of South Slavic linguistics, is the sixth editor in the journal’s history and is committed to serve a seven-year term. Not only is Joseph looking forward to his new position, but he is enthusiastic about contributing to one of the top journals in the linguistics field.

“Being named editor is pretty exciting. I have been in linguistics for over 23 years and Language has always been at the pinnacle of scholarship,” Joseph said. “It is very cool but is a large responsibility.”

Language has approximately 6,000 subscribers and was started in 1925 by OSU faculty member George Melville Bolling. Bolling was also one of the founders of the Linguistic Society of America and the first editor of Language.

“Language is one of the oldest linguistic journals in the western academic tradition,” Joseph said. “In the earlier days of American linguistics, this was a major outlet for the publication of scholarly research.”

Unlike other journals in the field, Language has always taken a more general perspective.

“It had a general orientation from the start and that outlook has been maintained throughout the years,” Joseph said. “This is not a specialist journal, it studies all aspects of language – sentence structure, history of individual languages, Native-American language, etc.”

During his 23 years in linguistics, Joseph has acquired a variety of skills and experiences necessary to ensure continued success in covering the many topics within the discipline.

“Although I am not a specialist in all areas of the field, through research, I have been exposed to many different things for this position,” Joseph said, “It is good to have a wide range of interests, experiences and expertise.”

Although few changes are expected, Joseph wants the journal to reflect the most up-to-date issues facing the linguistics field.

“I don’t envision huge changes within the journal. However, there are some ways that the journal could be brought into more current discussion because there is a lag time in publishing,” Joseph said. “The challenge is to make sure what we publish is current, timely and not old news.”

Another challenge Joseph faces as the editor of Language is the advances in technology.

“We will never become an all-electronic issue, but I don’t want the journal to be left in the dust,” Joseph said.” I do not want to fully embrace a new technology that could potentially put Language out of business.”

Joseph said the office receives approximately 100 manuscripts per year and takes about 20 of those submissions. He said he is able to leave his mark on the field of linguistics by making the final decision of what is published in the journal.

“I get advice on what to publish from outside readers and editorial boards, but ultimately the decision is mine,” Joseph said. “My choice of papers to publish will help to promote my vision of what the field should be like.”

National recognition is expected as a result of Joseph’s involvement in Language.

“This is absolutely wonderful for Dr. Joseph, us and the university,” said Peter Culicover, professor of linguistics and chairman of the department. “Our goal is to be recognized as one out of a top handful of linguistics departments in the country. This recognition will add to our prestige and help us move in this direction.”

Because OSU provides support of Language through scholarships, research and assistants, the opportunity to work with Joseph on different aspects of the journal have proved to be educational and informative.

“I have been editing for a few years,” said Audra Starcheus, editorial assistant and graduate student in linguistics. “This is a good opportunity to find a funded position and to do what I love to do.”

For Steve Harman Keiser, an editorial assistant and instructor in linguistics at OSU, working with Joseph has given him a new perspective on the process of creating a scholarly journal.

“Deciding which articles get published in Language is not just a simple yes/no process,” said Keiser.