ILFGA

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ILFGA CONSTITUTION

Article I. Name and Objective

  1. This Association shall be known as the International Lexical Functional Grammar Association.
  2. Its objective shall be the advancement of LFG based approaches for scientific study of language.

Article II. Membership

  1. Membership in the Association shall be open to individuals. There shall be two classes of membership: regular and life.
  2. Any person who subscribes to the objectives of the Association may become a regular member by registration with the Association.
  3. Any individual member may become a life member by payment of the appropriate dues set by the Executive Committee.
  4. Membership in the Association entitles a member to the following rights, and only members are entitled to such rights: (a) To vote; (b) To be elected for an office.

Article III. Officers and Committees

  1. The officers of the Association shall be the Executive Committee.
  2. The Executive Committee shall be composed of seven voting members. With the exception of the first year of the Association, each member shall be elected for three years. In the first year, two members of the Executive Committee shall serve three years, two shall serve two years, and two shall serve one year. Each year thereafter, an election shall be held to fill the vacated positions. Consecutive terms shall be allowed. The Chair shall be selected by the Executive Committee from the Executive Committee members serving their third year and shall serve as Chair for one year. The duties of the Executive Committee are to choose the site of the Annual Conference based on nominations by the members of the Association, to select the Secretary-Treasurer of the Association, the Program Committee, and the Nominating Committee, and to evaluate the needs of the Association as reflected by the Objective of the Association.
  3. The Secretary-Treasurer shall fulfill the following duties: maintain the Association's accounts, membership list, correspondence, and web page; supervise the voting procedure, tally the votes, and announce the results; submit a yearly report as to the status of the Association to the Executive Committee and to the Association at the Business Meeting. The Secretary-Treasurer shall serve for three years and may serve consecutive terms. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be a voting member of the Executive Committee.
  4. The Bulletin Maintainer shall compile and disseminate the quarterly electronic newsletter in March, June, September, and December. The Bulletin Maintainer is nominated by the Nominating Committee and voted into office by the members of the Association. There is no fixed term for the Bulletin Maintainer.
  5. The LFG List Maintainer shall maintain the electronic LFG mailing list. The LFG List Maintainer is nominated by the Nominating Committee and voted into office by the members of the Association. There is no fixed term for the LFG List Maintainer.
  6. The LFG Web Master shall maintain the resource web page for the Association. The LFG Web Master shall serve an indefinite term and shall nominate their successor to be approved by the Executive Committee.
  7. The Program Committee shall be composed of two members each serving a one year term; consecutive terms shall be permitted. The duties of the Program Committee shall be to collect the abstracts for the Annual Conference, ensure that they are evaluated fairly, and form the program of the Annual Conference from the selected abstracts.
  8. The Local Conference Committee shall be composed of at least one member chosen by the local site of the Annual Conference. The local site may add as many additional members as they feel necessary to fulfill the duties of the committee. The duties of the Local Conference Committee are to issue calls for the Annual Conference, organize the logistics of the Conference, and organize the workshops in conjunction with the Program Committee. The duties of the Local Conference Committee do not include determining the program of the Annual Conference.
  9. The Nominating Committee shall be composed of three members chosen by the Executive Committee. Each member shall serve for three years and may not serve two consecutive terms. The Nominating Committee's duties are to nominate members of the Association for the Executive Committee, the Bulletin Maintainer, and the LFG List Maintainer as necessary. These nominations shall be submitted to vote of the membership of the Association according to the procedure in Article III-10.
  10. The Voting Process shall be as follows. First, the Nominating Committee shall put forth its list of nominations to the members of the Association by May 1. Second, additional nominations from the members to be included on the ballot shall be due by June 1. Third, the Nominating Committee shall disseminate ballots to the members of the Association by June 15. Fourth, all votes must be received by the Secretary-Treasurer and the president of the Executive Committee by August 15 in order to be considered valid. Fifth, the Secretary-Treasurer shall announce the results of the election by September 1. Sixth, all new offices shall commence on September 1.

Article IV. Fiscal Policy

  1. All funds of the Association shall be managed by the Secretary-Treasurer, who shall report to the Chair of the Executive Committee. A financial report shall be made each year at the Annual Conference, and its contents shall be open for inspection by members of the Association.

Article V. Meetings

  1. There shall be three kinds of meetings: (a) the Annual Conference, (b) the Annual Business Meeting, and (c) the meeting(s) of the Executive Committee. A quorum shall consist of those present at each meeting.
  2. The Association shall hold one Annual Conference each year. The site of the Annual Conference shall be chosen by the Executive Committee based on nominations by the members of the Association. Nominations for the meeting site shall take place at the Business Meeting two years prior to the Annual Conference in question. Nominations may also be made by proxy to the Secretary-Treasurer prior to said Business Meeting. An effort shall be made not to hold the Annual Conference on the same continent for two consecutive years.
  3. One Annual Business Meeting shall be held at the same time and place as the Annual Conference. The Business Meeting shall be open to all members of the Association.
  4. One Meeting of the Executive Committee shall be held at the same time and place as the Annual Conference. Additional meetings may be held at the discretion of the Chair.

Article VI. Publications

  1. The Association shall publish the LFG Bulletin, issued quarterly by the Bulletin Maintainer in March, June, September, and December. The Bulletin shall be disseminated electronically to all members of the Association and to all subscribers of the LFG mailing list.
  2. The Association shall maintain the LFG List, an electronic discussion forum and bulletin board.
  3. The Association shall maintain two electronic web pages: (a) the Association web page which shall be maintained by the Secretary-Treasurer or their nominee, and (b) the LFG resource page which shall be maintained by the LFG Web Master.

Article VII. Registration and Secretariat

  1. The Association shall be registered as a non-profit Association in the United States of America. It shall have an address located in the United States of America.

Article VIII. Amendments

  1. Any proposed amendment to this constitution must be submitted to the Secretary-Treasurer in writing, signed by at least ten members of the Association. This shall be submitted to the members at the time of the regular election for officers. An amendment must have the approval of two-thirds of the members voting.

Amendment I - Ratified 1 October 1999

  1. The Association is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501 (c) (3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.
  2. No part of the net earnings of the Association shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to its members, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the organizations shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in futherance of the purposes set forth in the purpose clause hereof. No substantial part of the activities of the Association shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the Association shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other provision of this document, the Association shall not carry on any other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by an organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501 (c) (3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or (b) by an organization, contributions to which are deductible under section 170 (c) (2) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code.
  3. Upon the dissolution of the Association, assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501 (c) (3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose. Any such assets not disposed of shall be disposed of by the Court of Common Pleas of the county in which the principal office of the Association is then located, exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations, as said Court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.

Amendment II - Ratified 7 September 2015

  1. The sentence “There shall be maximally three non-voting members of the Executive Committee: the Secretary-Treasurer, the Bulletin Maintainer, and the LFG List Maintainer.” shall be removed from Article III.2.

Amendment III - Ratified 7 September 2015

  1. The sentence “If the Bulletin Maintainer is not already an elected member of the Executive Committee, then the Bulletin Maintainer shall be a non-voting member of the Executive Committee.” shall be removed from Article III.4.

Amendment IV - Ratified 7 September 2015

  1. The sentence “If the LFG List Maintainer is not already an elected member of the Executive Committee, then the LFG List Maintainer shall be a non-voting member of the Executive Committee.” shall be removed from Article III.5.