American Dialect Society

What American Dialect Society does

The American Dialect Society (ADS) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit academic organization founded in 1925 at the instigation of H.L. Mencken and Professor Louise Pound. The society's stated mission is to encourage the study of any aspect of all languages and dialects used or found in North America (including associated islands in the Pacific and Atlantic) and in the Caribbean Basin — spoken, signed, or written, modern or historical, Indigenous or introduced. It serves academic linguists, researchers, students, writers, journalists, librarians, translators, and independent language enthusiasts through scholarly publications, electronic discussion forums, and a single annual conference.

Core products include American Speech, a quarterly journal founded in 1925 and published by Duke University Press (the oldest journal devoted to the speech of North America); the PADS monograph series (an annual supplement to American Speech); the public ADS-L email discussion list and the members-only ADS-M announcement list (run on LISTSERV at the University of Georgia, with archives converted and maintained by LinguistList); the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), a six-volume reference work edited by Joan H. Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, published by Harvard University Press, and available digitally at daredictionary.com since December 2013; and the annual Word of the Year vote, conducted since 1990 in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) annual meeting. The ADS supports student scholars through annual $500 travel grants and honorary memberships.

Revenue is generated through annual membership dues, non-member and institutional journal subscriptions, and donations (including the Friends of the American Dialect Society program for annual contributions of $100 or more, with a suggested range of $500–$1,000). All membership processing and publication distribution is handled by Duke University Press. The society is governed by elected officers including a president, vice-president, and Executive Council members; current Executive Director is Betsy Evans. In January 2026, Anne Curzan (University of Michigan) was elected vice-president-elect and Kendra Calhoun (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) joined the Executive Council at-large. The society has no disclosed revenue and operates without external fundraising; its platform consists of a WordPress website at americandialect.org, the LISTSERV-based mailing lists, and standard social-media profiles on YouTube, Facebook, Bluesky, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn. In April 2026, the society announced a new online Research Incubator program (ADSRI1) scheduled for September 2026 and the 2027 annual meeting in San Francisco.

Name

American Dialect Society

Legal name

American Dialect Society

Website

https://americandialect.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1925

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The American Dialect Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic organization founded in 1925 that serves linguists, researchers, students, and language enthusiasts through scholarly publications, electronic discussion forums, and a joint annual conference focused on North American English dialects and languages.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Scholarly Society / Linguistics Publishing

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK)

Keywords

• Academic linguistics research
• Scholarly journal publishing
• Dialect studies society
• English language scholarship
• Membership academic society

Headquarters

HQ city

Jacksonville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees processed through Duke University Press. Membership includes subscription to American Speech journal, PADS monograph series, access to online archives, conference attendance, Word of the Year vote, and email list access.
2. Donations and Contributions: Tax-deductible donations from members and supporters. The society accepts donations through PayPal. High-level supporters ($100+ annually) join the Friends of the American Dialect Society. The society also accepts bequests and planned giving.
3. Publication Sales: Non-member subscriptions to American Speech journal and PADS monographs through Duke University Press. Institutional subscription rates available for libraries.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The American Dialect Society is a nonprofit academic membership organization that publishes the quarterly journal American Speech and the annual PADS monograph series, maintains email discussion communities (ADS-L and ADS-M), hosts an annual conference jointly with the Linguistic Society of America, runs the annual Word of the Year vote, and sponsors the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). Memberships and publication subscriptions are processed through Duke University Press.

Product overview

The American Dialect Society is a not-for-profit academic organization that operates a portfolio of scholarly publications and communication channels focused on linguistics and dialect studies. The core offerings include the quarterly journal American Speech and the monograph series PADS, both published by Duke University Press, along with email-based communication platforms (ADS-L for public discussion and ADS-M for member announcements). The society also sponsors the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) and runs an annual Word of the Year voting event. The society's primary activities center on its annual conference held jointly with the Linguistic Society of America.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• American Speech: The society's quarterly journal, published by Duke University Press on behalf of the American Dialect Society. Founded in 1925, it is the oldest journal devoted to the speech of North America.
• PADS (Publication of the American Dialect Society)
• ADS-L
• ADS-M
• Friends of the American Dialect Society

Products and services

• American Speech The society's flagship quarterly journal, published by Duke University Press, covering all aspects of American English including dialectology, sociolinguistics, etymology, language change, and a regular 'Among the New Words' feature. Founded in 1925 at the instigation of H.L. Mencken and Louise Pound and is the oldest journal devoted to the speech of North America.
• Publication of the American Dialect Society (PADS) Monograph series published once a year as an annual supplement to American Speech, containing monograph-length studies on dialects and linguistics. Members receive one PADS monograph each year as part of their membership benefits.
• ADS-L Email Discussion List A public email discussion list open to both members and non-members, featuring conversation on dialects of North American English and related linguistic topics. Run on LISTSERV software hosted at the University of Georgia, with message archives maintained by LinguistList.
• ADS-M Members-Only Announcement List A closed, members-only announcement email list that replaced the Newsletter of the American Dialect Society (NADS), distributing information relevant to society members.
• Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) A comprehensive 6-volume reference dictionary documenting regional variations in American English, sponsored by the American Dialect Society, edited by Joan H. Hall at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and published by Harvard University Press in print with a digital version launched in 2013.
• Word of the Year Vote Annual voting event held at the society's annual meeting to select the most notable word or expression of the year, with winners in multiple categories. The tradition has been ongoing since 1990 and historically generates significant national media coverage, with the 2025 winner announced as 'Slop' on January 9, 2026.
• Annual Conference Annual academic meeting held in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America, featuring scholarly presentations, the Word of the Year vote, networking opportunities, and student travel support. Includes call-for-papers and conference programming for linguistics and dialectology researchers.

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Linguistic Society of America (LSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe American Dialect Society holds its annual meeting in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America. The meetings are typically held in January at locations chosen jointly. Since 2003, ADS also supports a professorship at the biennial LSA Institute.
• Duke University PresscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDuke University Press publishes American Speech on behalf of the society and handles all membership processing, subscriptions, and publication distribution. Located at 905 W Main St Ste 18B, Durham NC.
• Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE)coreOthersThe American Dialect Society sponsors the Dictionary of American Regional English, a comprehensive 6-volume reference work edited by Joan H. Hall at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and published by Harvard University Press. The digital version was launched in 2013 at daredictionary.com.
• University of Georgia (LinguistList)majorTechnology or IntegrationThe ADS-L email discussion list runs on LISTSERV at the University of Georgia. LinguistList has taken responsibility for archiving ADS-L messages and converting daily digests into web pages.
• University of Wisconsin, MadisoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHome of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) project, edited by Joan H. Hall. The ADS sponsors this comprehensive dictionary of regional American English.
• Harvard University PressmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublisher of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), the comprehensive 6-volume work documenting regional American English.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• American Historical Association: A larger established humanities scholarly society with the same member-journal-annual-meeting operating model. Differs in discipline but mirrors ADS's nonprofit-membership-publishing structure and academic conference infrastructure.
• American Anthropological Association: A broad scholarly society covering anthropology including linguistic anthropology. Operates with the same membership, journal publication, and annual conference playbook as ADS, but in a wider disciplinary umbrella.
• National Council of Teachers of English: A larger English-language education organization with a comparable membership-publication-conference model. Differs in audience (educators rather than linguists) but mirrors the operating playbook for academic society engagement.

Regional players

• British Association for Applied Linguistics: A UK-based applied linguistics scholarly association with parallel membership, journal, and conference operations. Does not directly compete in North America but mirrors ADS's structure in a regional linguistic context.

Direct peers

• Linguistic Society of America: The direct peer organization in linguistics. ADS holds its annual meeting jointly with LSA, both serve academic linguists, and both publish flagship journals and run community programs for the same professional membership base.
• Modern Language Association: A large academic scholarly society with a comparable membership-publication-conference model serving humanities scholars. Similar nonprofit structure, journal publishing, and annual convention rhythm make it a close operational analog.
• Dictionary Society of North America: A scholarly society specifically for dictionary and lexicography research, overlapping with ADS's DARE sponsorship and American Speech journal focus. Same nonprofit membership-and-publication model for a closely related academic niche.

Emerging players

• Oxford English Dictionary (OAD/ORO): The flagship English-language dictionary project with which ADS personnel (Jesse Sheidlower, former ADS president and past OED editor) have direct interchange. Overlaps with ADS's lexicography mission and DARE sponsorship on the dictionary side of the linguistic ecosystem.
• Association for Computational Linguistics: A scholarly society intersecting linguistics and computational language work with conference/journal operations similar to ADS. Some thematic overlap around language documentation, but focused on NLP and computational methods rather than North American dialectology.
• International Linguistics Association: A smaller international linguistics organization that overlaps with ADS in serving applied linguistics researchers but with narrower geographic reach and a less developed journal portfolio. Comparable as a peer scholarly linguistics society.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/americandialect
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@americandialect
• Facebookfacebook.com/americandialect
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-dialect-society

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Dialect Society