Crisis in the Linguistic Society of America: The contested presidential election of 1970
Frederick J.Newmeyer
University of Washington | University of British Columbia | Simon Fraser University
Summary
This article discusses and analyses the 1970 election for President of
the Linguistic Society of America. In that year, Dwight Bolinger
challenged the official candidate Martin Joos and defeated him easily. We see that it was
mainly personal and generational factors, rather than intellectual ones, that led to
Bolinger’s victory.
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) has been in existence since 1924 and
counts thousands of members. Every year the LSA Nominating Committee puts forward an
‘official’ slate of candidates. One nominee is for the office of Vice-President. If elected,
he or she serves in that office for one year and as President the following. Any ten members, separately and in writing, can challenge
the official candidate and nominate somebody else. In the ninety-six-year history of the
LSA, the official candidate for President has been challenged only once. In 1970, Dwight
Bolinger opposed the official candidate Martin Joos and defeated him easily. This paper
discusses and analyses the election. We see that it was mainly personal and generational
factors, rather than intellectual ones, that underlay Bolinger’s successful challenge.
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