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Lise Dobrin (University of Virginia)Jeff Good (University at Buffalo, State University of New York)Endangered language linguistics: Whose mission?As the discipline of linguistics redoubles its efforts to document, understand, and support the world's linguistic diversity, academiclinguists are reconfirming their longstanding dependence on tools, methods, information, and facilities created by their missionarycounterparts, particularly SIL. But with linguistic work now often framed as a matter of human rights, endangered languages havebecome a moral cause. The time has thus come to reflect on how this partnership of convenience can be reconciled with academiclinguistics' own priorities and values. Is it desirable--or even possible--for endangered language research and development to becarried out independently of mission enterprises?William Svelmoe (Saint Mary's College)Missionary linguists or linguist missionaries? The tension between linguistics & evangelism in the SILThe earliest SIL/Wycliffe recruits were fundamentalist Protestants for whom linguistic training was a necessary evil, something oneendured in order to reach the more important goal of saving souls. However, mastering a field as complicated as linguistics required arigorous education far beyond what evangelical missionaries at the time customarily received. In time, and through a process ofgenerational change, the organization underwent a radical shift. SIL now attracts professionally trained linguists eager to uniteprofessional and intellectual goals with their religious commitments. But the tension remains, as recent discussions within theorganization demonstrate.Courtney Handman (University of Chicago)Christianization & language ideologiesThe relationship between local language ideologies, people's attitudes about language function and use, and conversion to Christianityis especially consequential for endangered languages since many of these are found in the remote areas that have long been attractiveto evangelistic organizations. Even when Christianity is practiced in local language contexts, beliefs about pragmatic constructs suchas sincerity or the representation of internal thoughts can shift in radical ways. I give a synthetic overview of the literature on howChristianization and attendant practices such as literacy affect local language ideologies, situating SIL's goals and practices within thisbroader context.Patience Epps (University of Texas, Austin)Linguists & missionaries: An Amazonian perspectiveTaking the problem of language endangerment in Amazonia as a backdrop, I argue that the missionary endeavor is incompatible withthe goals of language preservation and self-determination. Academic field linguists are increasingly aware of their responsibilities notonly to preserve and document endangered languages but also to respect speakers' rights to choose their own future. The missionaryendeavor, in contrast, takes as its starting point the assumption that 'we' have something that 'they' lack and are not complete without.Missionary linguists are also led by their premises to engage in coercion, as numerous examples from Amazonia attest.Ken Olson (SIL International)SIL International: An insider's viewMembers of SIL International are also simultaneously members of Wycliffe Bible Translators, which seeks to facilitate Scripturetranslation into the world's minority languages. SIL is incorporated as a nonecclesiastical organization in order to support theacademic side of its work and to foster agreements with host governments, academic institutions, and international bodies such as theUnited Nations and UNESCO, with which it enjoys formal consultative status. In 1975, the allegation that SIL contributes to thedestruction of indigenous cultures was formally brought to the Committee on Ethics of the American Anthropological Association andwas found to be unsubstantiated.Daniel Everett (Illinois State University)On the LSA-SIL connectionSIL is ultimately a religious organization whose goal is to produce portions of the Bible in all the languages of the world so thatRevelations 7:9 and 5:9 might be fulfilled. I was an SIL member from 1976 to 2002 when I resigned, in part because of mymisgivings about SIL's training, advertisement, goals, methods, and institutional objectives. I discuss the nature of these misgivingsand why I believe that although SIL continues to do invaluable linguistics research, it may be time for the LSA to develop an explicitpolicy concerning the role of SIL and similar organizations.92