The Linguistic Society of India was founded in 1928, at the fifth Oriental Conference in Lahore and its publication 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 at Lahore from 1928 to 1938. In 1937 it was decided to shift the office from Lahore to Calcutta. In November 1955 the Indian Philological Association which had been functioning since 1945 at Pune, was merged with the Linguistic Society of India. The effective office and management was transferred to 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, although having a particular focus on linguistics carried out on Indian Languages. Starting in 1931, it has published the whole lot of its research work in its 80 volumes up till 2019.

LSI also hold an Annual Conference All India Conference of Linguists (AICL), started in 1970, and the latest one the 34th AICL was held in Shillong (October 1-3, 2012). "All India Conference of Linguists ( AICL)" name is now changed to International Conference of Linguistic Society of India ( ICOLSI).The 42nd International Conference of the Linguistic Society of India ( ICOLSI-42) will be held at the Department of English, GLA University, Mathura ( December 10-12,2020)