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</div> </div> </div> <div class="main-container container"> <div class="row"> <section class="col-md-8 main-content-column"> <div id="page-title"> <h1 class="page-title">Sociolinguistics in SIL</h1> </div> <a id="main-content"></a> <div class="region region-content"> <section id="block-system-main" class="block block-system clearfix"> <div class="ds-1col node node-expertise-page view-mode-full clearfix"> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Sociolinguistics in SIL has to do with helping those working with languages better understand the factors and issues relevant to their work.聽The activities of SIL's sociolinguistic specialists include:</p> <ul> <li>Bringing sociolinguistic expertise to planning processes</li> <li>Evaluating language use and language vitality</li> <li>Teaching and training on sociolinguistic topics</li> <li>Helping language workers by consulting in: <ul> <li>Language vitality and revitalization</li> <li>Dialect issues</li> <li>Multilingual issues</li> <li>Social variation in language</li> <li>Language attitude issues</li> <li>Language development and policy</li> <li>Advocating for language use best practices in education</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>A special concern of many sociolinguists and others is the ethnolinguistic vitality of the languages of the world. <a href="https://www.sil.org/sociolinguistics/endangered-languages">Many of the languages of the world are endangered.</a> This happens when speakers start to prefer to use other languages spoken in their communities that they think will be more valuable to them and their children. Wherever there is more than one language in a community, there exists the possibility of language shift and loss. SIL is involved in assessing language vitality, and is available to assist communities in their efforts to stabilize or revitalize their community heritage language(s).</p> <p>SIL also applies sociolinguistic expertise in assisting other aspects of community based language development. Community based language development is the result of the series of on-going, planned actions that language communities take to ensure that they can effectively use their languages in their efforts to achieve their changing social, cultural, political, economic and spiritual goals. Many language communities around the world are minority language communities; minority in that they have limited participation in their own governance and the governance of the nation, limited opportunities in that they don鈥檛 speak the language(s) of power and opportunity, limited resources in that they have limited access to occupations and economic development, and they are under pressure to assimilate to more dominant languages and cultures. SIL fieldworkers are available to work with such communities to assist them in forming realistic language related goals and developing practical strategies to reach those goals.</p></div></div></div></div> </section> </div> </section> <aside class="col-md-3 sidebar-second-wrapper" role="complementary"> <div class="region region-sidebar-second"> <section id="block-menu-block-4" class="block block-menu-block clearfix"> <div class="menu-block-wrapper menu-block-4 menu-name-menu-expertise parent-mlid-0 menu-level-3"> <ul class="menu nav"><li class="first leaf menu-mlid-3545"><a href="/sociolinguistics">Sociolinguistics</a></li> <li class="leaf active-trail active menu-mlid-2096 active active"><a href="/sociolinguistics/sociolinguistics-sil" class="active-trail active">What we do</a></li> <li class="expanded menu-mlid-5474"><a href="/sociolinguistics/endangered-languages">Endangered Languages</a><ul><li class="first leaf menu-mlid-5475"><a href="/sociolinguistics/why-care-about-endangered-languages">Why Care?</a></li> <li class="last leaf menu-mlid-5476"><a href="/sociolinguistics/resources-endangered-languages">Resources on Endangered Languages</a></li> </ul></li> <li class="last leaf menu-mlid-1967"><a href="/sociolinguistics/news">News</a></li> </ul></div> </section> </div> </aside>  </div> </div> <footer class="footer"> <div class="footer-top"> <div class="container"> <div class="region region-footer"> <section id="block-panels-mini-sil-bootstrap-footer-menu" class="block block-panels-mini clearfix"> <div class="panel-flexible panels-flexible-new clearfix" id="mini-panel-sil_bootstrap_footer_menu"> <div class="panel-flexible-inside panels-flexible-new-inside"> <div class="panels-flexible-row panels-flexible-row-new-main-row panels-flexible-row-first clearfix footer-links"> <div class="inside panels-flexible-row-inside panels-flexible-row-new-main-row-inside panels-flexible-row-inside-first clearfix"> <div class="panels-flexible-region panels-flexible-region-new-column_1 panels-flexible-region-first "> <div class="inside panels-flexible-region-inside panels-flexible-region-new-column_1-inside panels-flexible-region-inside-first"> <div class="panel-pane pane-block pane-block-276 pane-block footer-logo" > <div class="pane-content"> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/sil_logo_white.png" style="width: 100px; 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