CIPL was founded in 1928 during the first International Congress of Linguists, which took place in The Hague (The Netherlands). The Congress constituted an important landmark in the study of linguistics since it was the first time that linguistics presented itself as an autonomous science to the world. The Permanent Committee included such leading linguists as Charles Bally, Franz Boas, Otto Jespersen, Daniel Jones, Antoine Meillet.

Subsequent congresses were held in Geneva, Rome, Copenhagen, and after the war, among other places, in Cambridge (Mass.), Tokyo and Quebec reflecting the idea that the sites of the congresses should not be restricted to Europe. The linguistic congresses have thus gradually developed into truly international gatherings and had constituted the only major event in linguistics until the drastic expansion of the field in the seventies of the last century. The topics discussed at the congresses, too, reflected the rapid growth of linguistics as a science and its manifold interfaces with psychology, sociology, anthropology, computer science, philosophy and many other disciplines. At the same time more and more international linguistic conferences have been organized in the various subfields of linguistics.

The International Congress of Linguists remains an important event because it fulfills the function of a general congress in linguistics and it is unique in this respect. The invited talks address hot topics in various subdisciplines presented by outstanding and internationally well known experts. In addition, the state-of-the-art papers provide an overview of the most important research areas of contemporary linguistics. Consequently, the Congress will be an excellent and unique occasion to learn about linguistic research other than our own and to meet colleagues from other fields and to discuss with them linguistic questions of mutual interest.

Ferenc Kiefer, president of CIPL