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S I L I N T E R N a T I O N SIS I L INTE RNATIONAL 8 0 0 1 Imagine the world before the invention of written language. There were no shared ideas via the printed page—no newspapers, books of history and poetry, 6 5dictionaries or reference libraries. There were no handwritten letters, no desks strewn with papers and reports, and no recorded thoughts of great philosophers. 2 4 6 You don’t have to look very far to find that such a world still exists today. Over one and a half billion people, or one quarter of the world’s population, speak lan- guages unintelligible to the mainstream of society. No literature exists in most of these lesser-known languages. Many have never even been studied or written down. SIL International8 serves the5 people of 0this world through0 the work of language research and development. However, it is often we who learn from and are en- 1 4 riched by the people we serve. As a member of this organization who began as a field linguist, it has been my privilege to work with those who have little5 in the 0 0 way of material goods, but have much to give in the way of wisdom and heart. With increasing strength, many of these groups are joining the mother-tongue literacy movement that is enabling marginalized peoples to be players at the world’s table. One such group is the Ngbaka of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who this past year formed their own Non-Governmental Organization re- sponsible for literacy. Its name, “Sukisa Boyinga,” literally means, “put an end to 2 darkness.”3 In this war-torn country, the way forward never looks clear, but the Ngbaka are pointing the way ahead. There are many others like them, and we are honored to have a small part in their efforts. In faithful service, 2 4 6 8 10 Steven N. Sheldon Executive Director, SIL International 1 5% 3 5 2 934 6 8 10 25% 419 1999 650 683 1 3 5 7 9 International an international resource in linguistic research language development adult literacy mother-tongue education community enablement What is SIL? SIL International began in 1934 as a training • promoting literacy among the peoples course in the state ofArkansas. It is now in- whose languages are studied. corporated in Texas, with its international SIL is variously characterized as a Private headquarters in Dallas. Voluntary Organization (PVO), a non-govern- The purposes of SIL are: mental organization (NGO), an academic • training and sponsoring SIL linguists in research organization and a service organi- their study of lesser-known languages; zation. SIL is recognized by the Internal • preparing literature both by original Revenue Service of the United States composition and by translation into government as a qualified 501(c)(3) the languages studied; charitable organization. • publishing language and cultural data; INTERNATIONAL What does SIL do? SIL’s technical services are normally provided possible, local, regional, or national partner- under the auspices of an official agreement ships are formed to share the work with in- with a government ministry or other official terested persons, committees, or institutions. national agency. In each country where SIL SIL’s work in linguistic research is a founda- has an agreement, language or project teams tion for language development. Language de- are assigned on a language-by-language basis velopment, in turn, creates a framework for to carry out a program of research, training, adult literacy and mother-tongue education. literacy, and development work. Whenever of the 1 billion 2 illiterateilliterate adultsadults /3 todaytoday areare women.women. This number is growing by millions every year. the challenge: language diversity, illiteracy, and poverty The people of the world Linguists count 6,500 lesser-known language groups around the world. These language groups constitute 1.26 billion people or 22 percent of The members of SIL the world’s population. Typically, lesser-known languages are unwritten. Membership in SIL is voluntary and is based There is no literature and no literacy in the mother on a rigorous screening process that examines tongue. If there are schools, education is in some the potential member’s commitment, aptitude, other language. hardiness, and willingness to carry out the goals and purposes of the organization. This membership has in common a personal com- mitment to basic Christian values. SIL now has over 6,000 members from more than 50 countries. The membership is evenly divided between language staff and general support staff. Since the members of SIL are responsible for their own financial support, each member devel- ops a sponsorship team of family, friends, foundations, churches, businesses, and other agencies that believe in what the member is doing. SIL members have 1,955 Master’s de- Approximately 1.26 billion people grees and 313 Ph.D degrees in linguistics speak these lesser-knownlesser-known languages, and other fields. SIL members have pub- or close to 1/4 of the lished 6,181 technical articles in books and world’s population. professional journals as well as 1,863 techni- cal and professional books in the field of lin- guistics. EDUCATIONAL “Without doubt, projects initiated in 50 countries, including 1,000 current projects SIL is the world’s hundred14 in 48 countries. leading agency languages have been researched doing literacy hundred by SIL’s work in language survey 35 and language mapping. work among dictionaries and grammars have minority peoples.” been published by SIL, or are under development. Dr. H. S. Bhola 800 Professor of Education Indiana University Language diversity: a modern reality People groups speaking lesser- known languages are scattered around the world. Interestingly, countries with greater linguistic diversity tend to also be less de- veloped. According to SIL research, lit- eracy in another language among such populations is estimated at 22 percent and among women at less than 10 percent. However, median rates of literacy in the mother tongue are less than 1 percent. Economically speaking, those countries in the lowest quartile of literacy have a median GNP per capita of less than US $500. At the other extreme, countries in the highest quartile show a median GNP of $8,500 per greatest educational challenges have the fewest capita. Those countries and peoples facing the resources to work with. world-wide formal relationship with the UN family of organizations; active role in the fo- rum of NGOs in UNESCO; registered consulting agency with the World Bank recognition and the Asian Development Bank; participant in major governmental confer- includes ences such as World Conferences on Education and World Social Summit. the solution: linguistic research, development, and education Rationale behind the SIL strategy Since its beginning in the 1930s, SIL has maintained Tools of linguistic research are used for: a strong commitment to the development of writing • Surveying and mapping languages systems and reading materials for languages that lack • Analyzing the sound system of a language a functioning written form. SIL pursues this goal • Analyzing text structures through linguistic research, the development of • Analyzing systems of meaning in a language linguistic resources, and the training of others in Principles of applied linguistics are then employed in these areas. the development of an alphabet, literacy materials, a dictionary, a grammar, and a body of basic literature for literacy. Through the 5 to 15 years it typically takes to do this, local expertise, leadership, and institutions are developed and empowered so that For the linguist or literacy there will be a local infrastructure support- specialist to be successful, ing ongoing literacy. Core informational this person must master the literature is produced on topics appropri- local language and culture. ate to the needs of the people. This may include publications on health, agricul- ture, and economics, as well as materials of high moral value. CULTURAL “If illiteracy is one of the The future awaits definition. As an international NGO with a major interest in developing nations worst forms of tyranny… and peoples, SIL is keenly aware of the need to forge these new partnerships and recognizes several trends SIL’s value lies in that it is emerging which will influence the nature of them. Belief and confidence in “big government” transforming the non-written seems to be waning. Civil society (businesses, social clubs, NGOs, churches, schools, neighborhoods, dialects of hundreds of peoples and extended families) is being challenged to as- sume greater responsibility in local affairs. As a re- into living languages…” sult, national and international NGOs can expect a larger role in the technical and service sectors of Carlos Albán-Holguín Colombia Ambassador to the UN development. Developing nations need both human and finan- cial capital to promote their development. The major governments are already financially over-committed. Therefore, such investment can only come from pri- Forging new partnerships vate sources including businesses. SIL is seeking a new set of partnerships on behalf With the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s, the lot of of developing nations, especially communities speak- many developing countries began to worsen as East and ing lesser-known languages. West redefined the international stage. Many of these coun- To such partnerships SIL would bring expertise in tries now realize they are, more than ever, “on their own” to human resource development. SIL is looking for those tackle and solve tough development problems. with the ability and vision to bring financial capital to As never before, development in these nations is going to this partnership. It is SIL’s belief that this is not only pos- depend upon the forging of new partnerships between local sible, but will, in the long term, be beneficial to those governments, national and international NGOs, the busi- willing to take the necessary risks.
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