aaas what follows are the minutes of the meeting of section z - linguistics and the language science - - held during the atlanta aaas annual meeting . the section committee hopes that this will be of interest to all linguists and once again urges any linguist not yet a member of aaas to join and select section z as their priary affiliation . ( a membership form follows the minutes ) v . fromkin , section z , secretary = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = section z - - linguistics & the language sciences section meeting - february 17 , 1995 , 2 : 30 - 5 : 30 pm marriott marquis , atlanta , ga . minutes attendance : retiring chair barbara lust , chair , richie kayne , chair - elect stephen anderson , chair elect 1995 sarah thomason , secretary , vicki fromkin , members of steering committee : paul chapin , ilse lehiste , paul chapin , section z representative to aaas council , arnold zwicky , and 10-25 individuals ( 20 signed the attendance sheet ) . ( 1 ) the meeting was called to order and chaired by chair richie kayne . the attendees were asked to introduce themselves . ( 2 ) the minutes of the feb . 21 , 1993 section meeting were distributed and approved . ( 3 ) the results of the last election were reported : sarah ( sally ) thomason was elected chair - elect for 1995 , and david caplan was elected member at large 1995 - 1998 . the members of the steering committee for 1995 ( as of february 21 , 1995 ) therefore consist of : retiring chair richie kayne , chair stephen anderson , chair elect sarah thomason , secretary victoria a . fromkin , members - at - large : david caplan , paul chapin , ilse lehiste . arnold zwicky remains as the council delegate through 1996 . the chair expressed the appreciation of all members of section z to retiring chair barbara lust ( who will serve on the council in 1995 ) and david pesetsky . ( 4 ) four sessions were sponsored by section z at this meeting : bilingualism : when is the best age to learn a second language ? ; endangered languages ; linguistic science and language technology : machines and human language ; structures of language : batons for cognitive science and neuroscience . in addition , section z cosponsored a session organized by the psychology section : instincts to learn . kenneth hale presented one of the topical lectures - - the scientific cost of the global loss of linguistic diversity . ken hale s lecture and the session on endangered languages received a great deal of interest from the press . ( this issue made national press coverage by the time of the section meeting , ) the section extended its gratitude to the session organizers and speakers , and to ken hale for their efforts in bringing linguistics to the general scientific community at the aaas . ( 5 ) dr . susan speece , chair of the department of biological sciences at anderson university , anderson in , who has been appointed as education liaison from the education section to section z was introduced . she distributed copies of life science standards and curriculum development for k-12 and reported on the work of the science education reform committee of the national research council and asked for suggestions and input from our section regarding science education k-12 and also undergraduate science education . , a discussion followed in which it was announced that stephen crain is heading a committee of the linguistic society of american on linguistics in the curriculum which is also concerned with the teaching of linguistic science in the schools . it was suggested that crain be asked to contact dr . speece . individuals were urged to view the poster paper linguistics in the schools : developing an epistemology of science by maya honda and wayne o neil on display from 10 : 30 to 3 : 30 on saturday , february 18 , in the marriott south exhibit hall . this poster paper is directly related to the subject under discussion . ( 6 ) budget . vicki fromkin reported on the budget situation . up to this meeting , section z received $ 2500 / annum from the aaas office which was supposed to cover the travel expenses of the section officers for the annual meeting , refreshments , and any expenses of the ssponsored sessions ( organizers and speakers ) that could be provided . last year we offered no support to symposia speakers . thus , this year after subtracting the probable expenses of the officers , the section budget total came to approximately $ 2500 . symposia organizers sent their requests to vicki fromkin . after she determined the cheapest possible fares of the speakers , she divided the sum so that no speaker who had requested funds would suffer financially more than the others and recommended to the aaas staff that these sums be disbursed . this leaves the section with a zero balance . at the planning committee which she attended , vicki reported that the staff had decided to change the section budgets . the expenses of the officers would no longer be deducted from the section allocation but would be borne by the central office . however , the sections would now receive much lower allocations ; section z will only receive $ 1000 / annum . it is urgent that symposia organizers inform their invited speakers that there is little if any money for expenses and speakers should attempt to find money elsewhere . ( 7 ) 1996 aaas annual meeting , baltimore , maryland , 8-13 february 1996 . proposals for sessions are due april 1 , 1995 . a general discussion was held regarding sessions to be sponsored by section z . the section agreed that it would like to see the following session organized . ( note that these are not necessarily the titles of the symposia to be submitted but rather signify the contents we would like to see presented . ) ( the name in parenthesis after each is the person designated to contact the proposed organizers ) i . language in the schools . proposed organizers wayne o neil , maya honda , walt wolfram ( wayne o neil ) ii . new technology ( e . g . mri , ct , pet ) in the study of the biology of language . proposed organizer : david caplan ( v . fromkin ) iii . the structure and acquisition of sign languages . proposed organizer : ursula bellugi ( v . fromkin ) iv . child language acquisition . proposed organizer : lila gleitman ( v . fromkin ) v : connectionism vs . symbolic systems models of cognition . proposed organizer : paul smolensky ( steve anderson ) ( following the meeting some of the members of the section steering committee proposed that geoffrey nunberg also be asked to submit a proposal on prescriptivism / the equality of dialects / english only legislation or such related issues . fromkin and anderson will contact him ) barbara lust informed the section that we also received a tentative idea for a possible symposium from lisa menn ( working with both lsa and asha ) which would be on theoretical , modeling and therapeutic studies of the acquisition of phonology . this was referred to sharon goldsmith of asha for further consideration for their support . ( 8 ) 1997 aaas annual meeting , seattle , washington . an opening discussion on possible sessions for the seattle meeting was held it was suggested that individuals should submit proposals to the nsf to fund sessions on reports of current research which would be of interest to the scientific community . such proposals should be submitted to paul chapin by no later than july 15 , 1995 in order to have a funding decision from nsf by december 1995 , in time to submit a session proposal to the aaas program committee . ( 9 ) membership . as of the time of the meeting , 169 members of aaas had selected section z as their primary affiliation , and according to mike spinella ( aaas staff , who attended the meeting briefly ) , 141 had designated section z as their secondary affiliation and 205 as their third . this total of 515 satisfies the aaas requirements for establishing section z as a permanent section of the aaas . in the words of mike spinella you re in ! . however , it is important that we continue to increase the members whose first affiliation is to our section . we would like to see that number grow to a minimum of 400 . in the discussion on methods to increase membership it was suggested that we ask the lsa if we can include a letter from the section chair and secretary in the regular mailings to linguistic department chairs asking if each department would subsidize the membership fee for one member ( probably the chair ) of the department . if the chair is already a member , another person should be designated , who could be elected by the faculty or determined in some other way . this would substantially increase our membership . sharon goldsmith from asha announced that she would be willing to place a notice in the asha newsletters and publications which go to 80 , 000 of their members . paul chapin agreed to draft a letter to send to asha for this purpose . it was also suggested that a membership form be included in the mailings . she also thanked section z for their support of the symposium on bilingualism which was organized by asha and introduced david kean , of the asha research and tehcnology committee . . barbara lust suggested that we contact all the international organizations such as lagb who supported the formation of the new section and ask them to publicize the section and urge their members to join . the question of the cost of joining aaas was discussed . there was confusion as to the cost of joining as a supporting member ( without receiving science ) particularly for foreign applicants . mike spinella assured us that supporting memberships cost $ 35 . 00 for us , and all non - us members . on the application form this $ 35 . fee is stated only for spouses of members , but we were assured that it is for anyone who joins as a supporting member . ( 10 ) endangered languages . michael strauss spoke on the importance of our establishing ties with non-linguists concerned with conservation and diversity , i . e . conservation biology , etc . david harmon of the george wright society of the world parks congress was introduced and told the group that until recently he did not realize the extent of the problem re maintaining linguistic diversity and the dangers facing endangered languages . he supported the suggestion that linguists concerned with this issue work together with other groups interested in cultural and biological diversity and endangered species . ( 11 ) at the 1994 meeting , it was agreed that it was important for linguists to submit research articles to science . this was reiterated . it was pointed out that one cannot complain about the contents of the journal and the heavy weighting toward biology if we do not submit articles . should they consistently be rejected we would then have grounds for complaint . ( 12 ) vicki fromkin announced that the international congress of linguists ( organized by the permanent international committee of linguistics , better known by its french initials cipl ) would be held in paris , in july of 1997 . ( 13 ) michael strauss , the director of annual meetings on the aaas staff and estrella m . triana , the senior program associate , aaas directorate for education & human resources programs were introduced . estrella triana announced that 1998 was the 150th anniversary of aaas and urged members to support the issuing of a aaas commemorative stamp . she also announced the fund raising drive for a new building , and reminded members that sections of the aaas were entitled to hold meetings in the aaas building in washington , dc . the meeting was adjourned submitted by v . fromkin , secretary section z = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = membership request form mail to : aaas - po box 2033 marion oh 43306-2133 or fax to ( 202 ) 842 1065 name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ state _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ zip _ _ _ _ _ _ _ membership category : ( includes 51 issues of science ) * regular member $ 97 * postdoctoral $ 72 ( payment required with order , ) * student $ 50 ( payment & student id required ) supporting member $ 35 ( does not include science ) check enclosed _ _ _ bill me later _ _ _ ( regular members ) visa _ _ _ _ master card _ _ _ _ credit card number _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ exp date section z primary affiliation : _ _ _ _ ( check here ) * all include 51 issues of science .
