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On behalf of the Executive Committee, the Secretary presented the following report:

The Executive Committee, acting by correspondence, has fixed the time and place of the present meeting, and made other necessary arrangements; it has elected to membership the several lists of nominees for membership, already published in LANGUAGE; it has applied for and secured affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, according to the vote of the Society on December 28, 1895; it authorized the publication, as a special BULLETIN of the Executive Committee, of the SURVEY OF LINGUISTIC STUDIES, prepared by R. G. Kent and E. H. Sturtevant.

In connection with the publication of the first MONOGRAPH, the Committee approved the payment of the bill at the rate of One Dollar to 20.55 Francs, which prevailed at the time of the estimate for the cost of printing.

The President of the Society named Professor Truman Michelson as the Society's representative to join with the representatives of the American Library Association and other organizations, in a protest against the passage by Congress of the proposed bill H. R. 10434 regarding copyright and importation; and Professor Michelson attended the public hearing given by the House Committee on Patents in charge of the bill, on April 16, 1926. A second hearing was held on April 29. As a result, the question will almost certainly go over at least until the long session of Congress, beginning in December, 1927.

The President appointed J. Alden Mason as representative of the Society on the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, our Society being entitled to one delegate by virtue of affiliation; and Dr. Mason is at the present time attending the meetings of the Council in Philadelphia, where the Association is holding its annual convention.

The President has appointed Professor Leonard Bloomfield to be the speaker representing the Linguistic Society at the joint meeting of all the Societies, on the evening of Wednesday, December 29.

The application for admission to the American Council of Learned Societies is still pending.

The Executive Committee met on Monday, December 27, 1926, in the Faculty Room of the Harvard Union, at 9.30 A.M., with the presence of the Committee on Publications and of Professor Taylor Starck, by special invitation. Of the Executive Committee, there were present O. F. Emerson, presiding; R. G. Kent, E. H. Sturtevant, L. Bloomfield. Of the Committee on Publications, there were present G. M. Bolling, D. B. Shumway.

The Secretary reported that after much correspondence he had, by direction of the Executive Committee, applied for and secured affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, without making special conditions, but in reliance upon fair and generous treatment by the Council of the Association. The Council at once placed the arrangement of a linguistic program in the hands of the Society; but as the meeting of the Association, which opens December 27, was then but a few weeks off, the Society's Secretary asked that the holding of such a program be omitted this year, until he could refer the matter to the Society's Executive Committee. The Executive Committee recommends that the management of such a program be placed in the hands of a Committee of three members of the Society who are also members of the Association, with permission to arrange a linguistic program in connection with the meeting of the Association, but in such a way as not to draw papers or attendance from the main meeting of the Society; and that in cases of doubt and of expenditure, the Committee shall confer with the Secretary of the Society.

The Executive Committee considered the proposed amendments to the Constitution, and recommends that they be with one change adopted. In case of the passage of the provision for Honorary Members, it will make a recommendation for the first election of foreign scholars.

The Executive Committee would be pleased to see the series of MONOGRAPHS amplified; to see the establishment of a series of LANGUAGE DISSERTATIONS; and to authorize additional BULLETINS on suitable subjects. In particular, it approves the proposal of the Secretary that he be permitted to prepare, as such a BULLETIN, a catalogue of linguistic dissertations for the doctoral degree, from the first granting of the degree in this country down to a recent date.

The Executive Committee recommends that the Treasurer be authorized to make such arrangements for advertising the publications of the Society, as may to him seem advantageous to its interests.

The Executive Committee has considered a proposal of Prof. Dr. A. Debrunner, Secretary of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft, that the two societies should reciprocally admit each other to membership and listing in the roll of the members; and it recommends that this take the form of listing the Indogermanische Gesellschaft and the Société de Linguistique de Paris as "associated societies", provided the two societies consent.

Mr. John M. Clapp, of New York City, Chairman of a Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English, proposes a Bureau of Language Research, for coördination of activities in matters pertaining to speech and communication, to which the adherence of a number of societies and organizations has already been secured; and asks that the Linguistic Society express its approval, in principle, of this plan, and designate its representative to serve on the Board of Directors of the Bureau. The Executive Committee recommends that this matter be left in its hands, with power to act.

The question of binding the volumes of LANGUAGE for members was considered, and it was recommended that the Treasurer be authorized to have sets bound for members, on payment of Two Dollars per volume.

On the presentation of Prof. C. C. Fries, the Executive Committee recommends that the following minute be adopted:

The Linguistic Society of America, recognizing the scientific value of a survey of the inflections and syntax of American English, hereby expresses its approval of the plans formulated by the Committees of the Modern Language Association and of the National Council of Teachers of English, for this purpose, and joins these organizations in urging the United States Government to make available for such a scientific study correspondence in its possession.

The Executive Committee asks that in view of the present uncertainty of the place of the next meeting of the other associations the choice of the place of the next meeting of the Linguistic Society be left to its decision at a later date.

The report of the Executive Committee was ordered received and filed, and on vote the several recommendations of the Committee were approved, with the exception of the amendments to the Constitution, which were reserved for later discussion.

Prof. G. M. Bolling, Editor of the Publications of the Society and Chairman of the Committee on Publications (the other members of the Committee being A. M. Espinosa, Samuel Moore, and D. B. Shumway), presented the following report, which was on motion adopted:

For the Committee on Publications I have the honor to report that through it the Society has published during the past year the second volume (about 260 pages) of LANGUAGE, and that it has in press Language MonoGRAPHS Nos. 2 and 3. These will amount to about 200 pages, and will be issued for the year 1926. Their titles are:

The Textual Criticism of Inscriptions, by Prof. Roland G. Kent, Univ. of Penna. Post-consonantal w in Indo-European, by Prof. F. A. Wood, Univ. of Chicago. The Committee would gratefully acknowledge the assistance and advice which it has received from various members of the Society, and in particular from the Business Manager of the Publications.

A series of amendments to the Constitution, dealing with Life Memberships and other classes of memberships, was submitted by the Executive Committee, and was adopted in the following form:

In Article II of the Constitution, insert a new section 1:

1. There shall be six classes of membership: active members, life members, benefactors, honorary members, subscribing members, perpetual members.

Renumber the present sections 1 and 2, respectively 2 and 3; these define active members, their election and dues, and penalties for non-payment.

Add the following new sections:

4. Any active member may become a Life Member by payment at one time, in addition to the dues of the current year, of the sum of One Hundred Dollars, less half the amount already paid in annual dues.

5. Any active member may become a Benefactor by payment at one time, including the dues of the current year, of the sum of not less than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars. Benefactors shall have all the privileges of membership, including the receipt of publications, and may also designate a library which shall without further payment receive in perpetuity the publications of the Society which are distributed to members.

6. Any foreign scholar of distinction in linguistic studies, not resident in North America, may be elected an Honorary Member, by a five-sixths vote of the Society in its annual business session, provided such scholar has received the recommendation of the Executive Committee. Not more than six honorary members shall be elected at the first election, and thereafter not more than three in any one year. The total number of honorary members shall not exceed twenty-five. Any active member may submit nominations to the Executive Committee.

7. Any library or institution may become a Subscribing Member by payment of Five Dollars annually, and shall have all the privileges of active memberss except that of participation in the business meeting of the Society.

8. Any subscribing member may become a Perpetual Member by payment at one time, of One Hundred Twenty Five Dollars, and shall have all the privileges of subscribing members.

9. Life Members, Benefactors, Honorary Members, and Perpetual Members are free from from further payment of dues.

10. All classes of members are entitled to receive the publications of the Society without further charge, except in the case of larger publications issued under special conditions and outside subventions.

11. The sums received as dues of Life Members, Benefactors, and Perpetual Members shall be set aside as endowment, and shall be invested in interest-bearing securities, only the income thereof to be used for current expenses, including those of publication. The Treasurer and two members of the Society, appointed by the Executive Committee, shall be the trustees of the Endowment Fund. In the event of the dissolution of the Society, One Hundred Dollors shall be repaid to every Perpetual Member.

The Executive Committee now submitted the following nominations for election to honorary membership, and in accord with the newly adopted provisions they were duly elected:

A. Debrunner, Secretary of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft, Jena, Germany. Otto Jespersen, Professor of English Philology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

A. Meillet, Secretary of the Société de Linguistique de Paris, Professor of Comparative Grammar at the Collège de France and of Comparative Grammar

and Iranian Languages at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France.

P. Rivet, Secretary of the Société des Américanistes de Paris, Paris, France. Jacob Wackernagel, Professor of Comparative and General Linguistic Science at

the University of Basel, Switzerland.

H. C. K. Wyld, Professor of the English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford, England.

The Presiding Officer now appointed the following committees: On Nominations of Officers for 1927: C. W. E. Miller, Chairman; L. Allen, R. E. Saleski.

To Audit the Accounts of the Treasurer: F. B. Krauss, Chairman: C. C. Fries.

On Resolutions: L. Bloomfield, Chairman; E. H. Sehrt.

The reading of papers was now begun:

Prof. R. E. Saleski, of Bethany College: The Intrinsic Value of Foreign Language Study.

Discussion by Messrs. Kent and Emerson.

Dr. H. S. Gehman, of the Philadelphia High Schools: The Comparison of Inequality in Coptic.

This paper was read by title only, in the absence of the author.

Prof. E. H. Sturtevant, of Yale University: Indo-European bh initial = Hittite h.

Discussion by Messrs. Saleski, Whatmough, Kent.

Mrs. Elizabeth Knott, of the University of Michigan: The Nouns of the "labyrinth" Type.

Discussion by Mr. Sturtevant.

Mr. M. M. Odgers, of the University of Pennsylvania: The Gender of Latin parens.

Discussion by Messrs. Kent, Bolling, Bloomfield.

Adjournment followed, at 4.30 P.M.

An informal subscription dinner was held at 6.30 P.M., at the Harvard Union, with an attendance of 38 persons, of whom 32 were members and members-elect of the Society.

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