THE HENRY SWEET SOCIETY

FOR THE HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC IDEAS

The Constitution of the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas (revised October 2020)

1.     The name of the Society shall be the Henry Sweet Society for the History of Linguistic Ideas.

2.     The aims of the Society shall be to promote and encourage the study of the history of all branches of linguistic thought, theoretical and applied. Its fields of interest include the history both of the major subject areas of linguistics and also of more specialized topics, such as writing systems, literacy, rhetoric, and the application of linguistic ideas within professional and technical fields.

3.     Membership of the Society is open to all persons with an interest in the aims of the Society.

4.     The officers of the Society shall be: a President, up to four Vice-Presidents, Chair of the Executive Committee, Secretary of the Executive Committee, Editor of Language & History, Treasurer, Social media officer.

5.     There shall a number of ordinary members of the Executive Committee.

6.     The officers of the Society, together with the ordinary members of the Executive Committee, shall have power to co-opt officers and ordinary members of the Executive Committee if posts have fallen vacant. Any co-opted member shall stand for election in the normal way at the next Annual General Meeting

7.     Terms of office shall be: President : 3 years with eligibility for  re-election for additional term(s); Vice-Presidents: without time limit while they remain members of the Society; all Executive Committee members (including the President and other officers): 3 years, with unlimited eligibility for re-election.

8.     Elections: (a) The officers shall be elected by the Executive Committee from amongst its members; (b) The members of the Executive Committee shall be elected by the membership of the Society, as assembled in the Annual General Meeting. Vacancies on the Executive Committee, together with the names of committee members who are retiring or standing for re-election, shall be advertised in advance of the Annual General Meeting. Nominations can be made to a member of the Committee in advance, or by oral proposal to the meeting.

9.     Applications for membership:

(a)   Membership  is open to all and instructions for joining the Society are published on the Society’s website, http://www.henrysweet.org/

(b)  Undergraduate students, and graduate students of not more than five years’ standing from their admission as graduate students, shall be eligible for associate membership of the Society at a reduced rate. Evidence of their status should be supplied.

10.  The Annual General Meeting shall normally be held in conjunction with a colloquium, a lecture, or a seminar. Invitations to the Annual General Meeting, including a draft agenda and, if pertinent, the text of an amendment of this constitution, must reach members fifteen days previous to the meeting. During the meeting, the Treasurer shall present the Society’s accounts, and the Executive Committee shall recommend, and the membership of the Society as assembled in the Annual General Meeting shall approve, the annual subscription to be paid on January 1 each year.