TIlE PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS Volume 20, No.2 December 1989 THELINGUISTIC SOCIETY OFTHE PHaIPPINES, 1969-1989 MA LOURDES S. BAUTISTA De La Salie University 1. THE LSP'S BEGINNINGS The story ofthe Linguistic Societyofthe Philippines begins not in 1969, but in 1968, and not in the Philippines, but in Hawaii, where two Filipino linguists, Bonifacio P. Sibayan and Ernesto Constantino, were working on their respective research projects in the Pacific and Asian Linguistics Instituteof the University of Hawaii. They started discussing the need for an organization of linguists in the Philippines that would do research and publish on Philippine languages. When Sibayan came • back to the Philippine Normal College, he issued a call for the founding of such an organization and a meeting was held atthe Reading Center ofPNC. Present at that first meeting -- if Sibayan's memory serves him right --were Fe Otanes, Edilberto Dagot, Jack Wigfield,and Tommy Anderson of PNC,and Emy Pascasio, Gloria Chan-Yap, and Teodoro Llamzon of the Ateneo de Manila. Constantino was stillin Hawaii during the series of organizational meetings, and, upon hisreturn, he decided not to join the organization but to start his own linguisticcircleat. the Universityof the Philippines. A linguistwho later became very active in the LinguisticSocietyof the Philippines, Andrew Gonzalez, was finishing his doctorate at the University of California in Berkeley. The response during those preliminary meetings was lenthusiastic. By early June, the group had prepared a draft of the by-lawsof the LinguisticSociety of the Philippines, Inc. According to that document, the LSP had the followingobjectives: 'a. to strive for the advancement of the scientificstudy of language, including basic research, particularly language in the Philippine context; and b. to disseminate the results of scientificstudies undertaken and to communicatewith organizations in other countries that are also engaged in such pursuit', The LSP was formally"organized on July 13, 1969 with the following officers: Teodoro Llamzon (Ateneo de Manila) as President, Bonifacio P. Sibayan (PNC) as Vice-President, Edilberto Dagot(PNC)as Secretary,and Fe T. Otanes (PNC) as Treasurer. The othermembers of the Executive Committeewere Rosalina M. Goulet (UP), J. Thomas Lyman (Summer Institute of Linguistics),and Maximo Ramos (University of the East). The Executive Committee chose the following to be chairpersons of the various committees: Llamzon for Publications, Ricardo Cutiongco (San Beda College) for Membership, Cesar Hidalgo (UP) for Research, Fe A1dave-Yap (Institute of National Language) for Professional Meetings, and Alejandro Casambre (UP) for Professional Relations. TheSocietywas registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 17, 1%9. On January 17, 1970,92 names were on the list of members. The new organization was offto a rousing start. For Schoolyear 1969-70, the LSP had five speakers inits lecture series, beginningwith Charles Ferguson (Stanford University) on I 'Language and Nation-Building'. A five-dayseminar-workshop was held in April 1970on 'Linguistics: Its Application . to Language Teaching'. And the first issue of the Philippine Journal of Linguistics came out in June 1970 with articles by Isidore Dyen, Teodoro Llamzon, Araceli Hidalgo, Fe Otanes, John Wolff, Fe A1dave-Yap,Leonard Newell, and Yao Shen. Also in 1970, the LSP initiated discussions for a Consortium between Ateneo de Manila and Philippine Normal College that would offer a Ph.D. in Linguistics, with assistance from the Ford Foundation and the Asia Foundation. The first group of scholars in the Ateneo-PNC Linguistics Consortium was accepted into the program in Schoolyear 1971-1972. 2. ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERSHIP As can be seen above, the initial leadership structure of .the LSP was that of an Executive Committee made up of seven members, four of whom served as officers (President, Vice- President, Secretary, Treasurer). The Executive Committee then appointed the chairperson for each of the followingcommittees: Publications, Membership, Research, Professional Meetings, and Professional Relations. This structure continued until SY 1974-1975. In SY 1975- 1976, the structure became leaner: The different committees were dissolved, the position of Secretary was revamped into that of an Executive Secretary, and the name of Executive Committee was replaced by Linguistic Societyof the 45 'BAuTISTA Philippines Board. ByJanuary 1987, a movewasmadeto expand membership in the Boardinorder to involve more universities/agencies in the I activities of the LSP. Since 1987, therefore, the membersof the annualconvention haveelected10membersto theLSPBoard;these 10Boardmemberssubsequently electa President;Vice-President, andTreasurer,with the Executive Secretary beinga special position. TheVice-President isa President-elect, sincehe/she isexpected toassumethe position of Presidentthe following year. In the 20 yearsof the Linguistic Society of the Philippines, the membersof the Executive Committee, subsequently LSP Board,haveincluded the following: Teodoro L1amzon (Atenea de Manila University), EmyPascasio (ADMU),GloriaChan(ADMU), AndrewGonzalez (De La Salle University), Ma.LourdesS.Bautista (DLSU),Fe Dacanay (Department of Education,Culture and Sports), PoncianoB.P.Pineda(Instituteof National Language), Fe Aldave- Yap(INL),Bonifacio P. Sibayan (Philippine NormalCollege), Fe Otanes(pNC), EdilbertoDagot (pNC), Wilfredo Alberea (polytechnic University ofthePhilippines), RicardoCutiongco (SanBedaCollege), J. ThomasLyman (SummerInstituteof Linguistics), MorrisCottle(SIL),DanielWeaver (SIL),Leonard Newell (SIL), David Ohlson (SIL), AustinHale (SIL), Maximo Ramos (University of the East), Cesar Hidalgo' (University ofthe Philippines), Alejandro Casambre(UP),JonathanMalicsi (UP), N~11y Cubar(UP), and TeresitaCendana(University of SantoTomas). L1amzon wasPresidentof the LSPfrom 1969 to 1972; Sibayan wasPresidentfrom 1973to 1985 andwasmadePresidentEmeritus. in1986. The Presidentssincethen,witha one-yearterm, have been Pineda,Pascasio, Otanes,and Cubar. Having a strongExecutive Secretary has ensured having a strong Society. The Executive Secretaryofthe linguistic Society ofthe Philippines, since1975, hasbeenAndrewGonzalez, FSC.l:le has been assisted at varioustimesby EdilbertaBala, Ma.CoronaRomero,and Angelita A1im. From a membership of 92 in 1969-1970, the LSP nowhas a membership of 305 regular membersand 21 lifetime members. The LSPisan active memberof the Philippine Social Science Council, a privateorganization of professional social science associations in the Philippines. Members of the LSP Board sit as representatives of the LSPon the PSSCGoverning Council, PSSC Executive Board,the Social Issues Committee, the Research Committee, and the Publications Committee. 3. RESEARCH AND PUBUCAllONS From the veryfounding of the Society it hasbeenclearthat a majorconcernisresearchand publications in thearea of Philippine linguistics. Areview of theearlydocuments shows thefollowing projectsfrom the Asia Foundation: A Festschrift for Cecilio Lopez, a projectdirected by Andrew. Gonzalez; a compilation ofreadings inPhilippine linguistics, directedby Andrew Gonzalez; a handbook of Philippine languages, directed by Teodoro L1amzon; a translation of basic articles on.Philippine languages inDutchand German,directedbyTeodoroL1amzon; and studiesinlistening inthePhilippine setting, directedby Alejandro Casambre. Funding has not always been available, but the researchgets done becauselinguists are dedicated to theirdiscipline and lbecause theyhaveextendedtheir.researchcapabilities through the graduate studentswhosethesesand dissertations theyhave . directed. The Ateneo-PNCLinguistics Consortium aloneproduced 11significant dissertations, and several of thesedissertations havebeen published as part of the Pacific Linguistics Publications Seriesof the Australian National University. The/ Ateneo-DeLa Salle-PNC Consortium for a Ph.D.inBilingual Education, wlJich succeeded the Ateneo-PNCConsortium for a Ph.D. in linguistics,hascomeup withninedissertations. The regularoutletforthe researchdone bylocal and foreignscholars onPhilippine languages, . andon aspectsof applied linguistics in thePhilippines, hasbeen thePhilippine Journalof linguistics. Thejournalhascomeout regularly twice a year,inJune andDecember(with someissues beingdouble issues), sinceitsfirst publication inJune/1970. Twenty-six issues haveappeared. The Philippine Social Science Council honoredthe PIL as the bestjournalfor 1980-1982. In addition, the LSP haspublished several monographs and occasional papers. The listof thesepubncations appearsas Appendix 1. .One of the most significant researchactivities of the LSP hasbeen the evaluation of the . implementation of the Bilingual Education Policy for the period 1974to 1985. This project was 46 THE LINGUISTIC SOClETY OFTHE PHILIPPINES undertakenin1985-1986withfunding fromtheProgramfor Decentralized EducationalDevelopment undertheMinistry of Education, Culture,andSports, theNational Economic Development Authority, andvariousgrant-making agencies; the evaluation team consisted of Sibayan, Gonzalez, Otanes,Jose Arong,OMI,and LukeI Moortgat,CICM. Theyear-long studyused testing results collected in 1985; usingqualitative and quantitative analyses, the study arrived at the conclusion that the decline in achievement scoresamongpupils of Philippine elementaryand secondaryschools wasnotto beblamed on the Bilingual Education Policy, but rather on inadequatecompetence