The Linguistic Society of India was founded in 1928 at the fifth Oriental Conference in Lahore, and the publication of its journal Indian Linguistics began in 1931. The objective of the Linguistic Society of India (LSI) is THE ADVANCEMENT OF INDIAN LINGUISTICS and SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF INDIAN LANGUAGES.

The LSI functioned in Lahore from 1928 to 1937. In 1938, the Society shifted its office from Lahore to Calcutta. In November 1955, the Indian Philological Association, functioning since 1945 in Pune, was merged with the Linguistic Society of India. Consequently, the effective office and the management were transferred to the Department of Linguistics, Deccan College Post-graduate & Research Institute, Pune.

The LSI publishes Indian Linguistics, a journal of international repute, which includes articles from all areas of linguistics, focusing on Indian Languages and linguistics. Starting in 1931, it has published much of its research work in 80 volumes until 2019.

LSI holds an All India Conference of Linguists (AICL), which was started in 1970. The name "All India Conference of Linguists (AICL)" is now changed to the International Conference of Linguistic Society of India (ICOLSI with a suffix of the last two digits of the current year), and the latest one, ICOLSI-45, was held at the Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (November 20-22, 2023). The 46th International Conference of the Linguistic Society of India (ICOLSI-46) will be held at the Department of Linguistics, University of Kashmir, Srinagar (October 03-05, 2024).