In this Special Issue, we commemorate 40 years of publishing research in the Journal of Language & Social Psychology (JLSP). We first provide a brief glimpse of the history of the field of language and social psychology and the emergence of JLSP within it. This is then developed further by exploring the themes—and the relationships between them—arising over the four decades of the journal, by means of a Leximancer analysis of the titles and abstracts of all research articles since the journal’s inception. We describe our data-driven rationale for the topics selected for the Anniversary Issue and provide an overview of the articles that follow this Prologue; we highlight their unique features and contributions to the advancement of the field of language and social psychology.
AngusD.GalloisC. (2017). New methodological approaches to intergroup communication. In GilesH.HarwoodJ. (Eds.), The Oxford encyclopedia of intergroup communication (Vol. 2, pp. 163–179). Oxford University Press. https://doi.10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.380
2.
AngusD.RintelS.WilesJ. (2013) Making sense of big text: a visual-first approach for analyzing text data using Leximancer and Discursis. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(3), 261–267. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2013.774186
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BirneyM. E.RosselJ.HansenK.RakićT. (2020). Prologue: Language challenges in the 21st century. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 39(4), 428–437. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20933315
4.
BrownR. (1958). Words and things: An introduction to language. The Free Press.
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BrownR.GilmanA. (1960). The pronouns of power and solidarity. In SebeokT. (Ed.), Aspects of style in language (pp. 253–276). MIT Press.
6.
CretchleyJ.RooneyD.GalloisC. (2010). Mapping a forty-year history with Leximancer: Themes and concepts in JCCP. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41(3), 318–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022110366105
7.
DehghaniM.BoydR. (Eds). (in press). The atlas of language analysis in psychology. Guildford Press.
8.
DragojevicM. (2017). Twenty years of IALSP: Past, present, and future. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 36(6), 624–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X17730644
9.
FarrR. M. (1980). Homo loquens in social psychological perspective. In GilesH.RobinsonW. P.SmithP. M. (Eds.), Language: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 409–413). Pergamon.
10.
FraserC.SchererK. R. (Eds.). (1982). Advances in the social psychology of language. Cambridge University Press.
11.
GardnerR. C.LambertW. E. (1959). Motivational variables in second-language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie, 13(4), 266–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0083787
12.
GasiorekJ.GilesH.HoltgravesT.RobbinsS. (2012). Celebrating thirty years of the JLSP: Analyses and prospects. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 31(4) 361–375. https://doi.10.1177/0261927X12446614
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GilesH. (2012). Taking stock after 30 years: JLSP genesis and prologue. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 34(4), 355–360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X12446608
14.
GilesH. (Forthcoming). The vitality of language attitudes: A Foreward. In KircherR.ZippL. (Eds.), Research methods in language attitudes. Cambridge University Press.
15.
GilesH.CouplandN. (1992). Language: Contexts and consequencs. Brooks Cole.
16.
GilesH.RobinsonW. P. (Eds.). (1990). Handbook of language and social psychology. Wiley.
17.
GilesH.St. ClairR. N. (Eds.). (1979). Language and social psychology. Blackwell.
18.
GilesH.St. ClairR. N. (Eds.). (1985). Recent advances in language, communication, and social psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum. Reprinted by Routledge, 2019.
19.
GilesH.HillS.MaguireE. R.AngusD. (Forthcoming). Conclusion: New directions in policing and communication. In GilesH.MaguireE. R.HillS. (Eds.), The Rowman & Littlefield handbook of policing, communication, and society: An interdisciplinary approach. Rowman & Littlefield.
20.
GilesH.RobinsonW. P.SmithP. M. (Eds.). (1980). Language: Social psychological perspectives. Pergamon.
21.
GilesH.ShrikantN.DavisS. M. (Eds.). (2020). The legacies of Black Lives Matter: Language, communication, and social psychological perspectives toward social justice. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 39(5–6).
22.
HolgravesT. (Ed.). (2006). The Oxford handbook of language and social psychology. Oxford Univerity Press.
23.
JucksR.HendriksF. (Eds.). (Forthcoming). “Stay safe and stay at home!” Research on language and communication related to COVID-19. Journal of Language & Social Psychology.
LambertW. E.HodgsonR. C.GardnerR. C.FillenbaumS. (1960). Evaluational reactions to spoken languages. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60, 44–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0044430
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PittsM. J. (2020). Epilogue: The language opportunities for the 21st. century. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 39(4), 567-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20933997
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PittsM. J.WatsonB. M. (2012). Epilogue: Trends and forecasts in language and social psychology scholarships. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 31(4), 437–446. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X12446613
28.
RizzoliV.CastroP.TuzziA.ContarelloA. (2019). Probing the history of social psychology, exploring diversity and views of the social: Publication trends in the European Journal of Social Psychology from 1971 to 2016. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(4), 671–687. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2528
29.
RobinsonW. P. (1972). Language and social behavior. Penguin.
30.
RobinsonW. P.GilesH. (Eds.). (2001). The new handbook of language and social psychology. Wiley.
31.
RooneyD.McKennaB.BarkerJ. R. (2011). History of ideas in Management Communication Quarterly. Management Communication Quarterly, 25(4), 583–611. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318911405623
SmithA. E.HumphreysM.S. (2006). Evaluation of unsupervised semantic mapping of natural language with Leximancer concept mapping. Behavior Research Methods, 38(2), 262–279. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192778
34.
St. ClairR. N.GilesH. (Eds.). (1980). The social and psychological contexts of language. Lawrence Erlbaum.
WatsonB. M.PittsM.GilesH. (Eds.). (2012). Special anniversary issue: A tribute to the first 30 years of JLSP scholarship. Journal of Language & Social Psychology, 31(4), 355–360.
