Appointment and Compensation of Members
- Members are appointed by the President of the Philippines.
- Appointment requires consent from the Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly.
- Members receive a per diem of ten pesos for each session attended.
Support and Logistics
- The Department of Public Instruction provides an office and necessary clerical personnel for the Institute.
Organizational Procedures and Reporting
- The Institute adopts its own rules of procedure.
- It must hold sessions at least once a week.
- A monthly report of activities is submitted to the President through the Secretary of Public Instruction.
Duties and Objectives: Language Study and Selection
- Study Philippine dialects to evolve a common national language based on an existing native tongue.
- Survey chief tongues spoken by at least half a million people.
- Identify words/phrases with common sound and meaning, same sound but different meanings, and similar sound with same or different meanings across tongues.
- Study Philippine phonetics, orthography, and affixes (prefixes, infixes, suffixes).
- Choose the native tongue for the national language, preferring one that is most developed in structure, mechanism, and literature and is widely accepted.
Deliverables Within One Year
- Prepare lists of words and phrases as per study requirements.
- Produce studies on Philippine phonetics, orthography, and affixes.
Proclamation and Adoption of the National Language
- Upon publishing studies, the Institute must declare the native tongue chosen.
- It recommends adoption of this national language to the President.
- The President will proclaim the national language by executive order, effective two years thereafter.
Dictionary and Grammar Preparation
- After proclamation, the Institute prepares the dictionary and grammar for the national language.
- Vocabulary purification involves eliminating unnecessary foreign terms.
- Vocabulary enrichment sources primarily Philippine tongues, then Spanish and English as needed.
- New scientific, literary, and technical terms derived from classical languages like Greek and Latin, adapted to Philippine phonetics and orthography.
- Spelling of foreign-origin family names used by Filipinos is preserved.
Publication and Implementation in Education
- Dictionary and grammar to be published within two years after proclamation.
- President orders the Department of Public Instruction to implement teaching of the national language in all public and private schools, following Institute standards.
Authority Over Linguistic Standards
- The Institute's linguistic decisions, once approved by the Secretary of Public Instruction, become the literary standard for official publications and school texts.
- The Institute, with Secretary's approval, can amend linguistic form of any Philippine national language textbooks for official use.
Tenure and Duration
- The Institute exists indefinitely unless otherwise legislated.
- Members hold office during good behavior.
Appropriations and Funding
- An initial appropriation of fifty thousand pesos from the Philippine Treasury to fund operations until December 31, 1937.
- Additional disbursements for publications authorized by the President upon recommendation by the Institute and Secretary of Public Instruction.
Effectivity
- The Act takes effect upon approval.