92nd Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting

An LSA attendee engages with Dr. Mike Cahill, SIL’s Orthography Services Coordinator, by the banner displaying a few SIL fonts.

(January 2018) Nine SIL linguists attended the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) in Salt Lake City, Utah, 4-7 January. SIL has a long history of participation with the LSA, and the Meeting provides valuable time for catching up with the latest research and for connecting with colleagues from around the world. Involved in hands-on linguistics, four SIL linguists gave presentations:

  • Doris Payne PhD - co-presented on: Determiners and demonstratives in Pilagá (Gran Chaco, Argentina)
  • Brenda Boerger PhD - poster: Inclusiveness in fieldwork 
  • Dan Hintz PhD - presented at *SSILA: The elaboration of similative case in Quechua
  • Diane Hintz PhD - presented at SSILA: Development units and their morphological marking in Quechua narrative discourse

*SSILA is the Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the Americas, one of several sister linguistic societies which meet at the same time as LSA."

As an exhibitor at the conference, SIL linguists demonstrated various software tools and resources such as:

  • FLEx - enabling linguists to be productive when building a lexicon and interlinearizing texts
  • Bloom -- an award-winning tool to produce simple literacy books
  • Webonary -- a platform for publishing multilingual minority language dictionaries online with a minimal amount of technical support needed
     

A featured publication this year was Dr. Keith Snider’s newly-published book, Tone Analysis for Field Linguists, unique because it deals with the actual methodology for analyzing tone. A new feature for this publication is the availability of additional online supporting materials for teachers, developed by the author to supplement the text.


“Are you interested in online dictionaries?” began many conversations with Verna Stutzman, Dictionary and Lexicography Services Coordinator, as she explained the details of Webonary.  |  A banner featuring a few SIL-developed fonts.  |  Dr. Brenda Boerger, Language and Culture Documentation Services Coordinator, introduced LSA participants to various SIL software programs.
(Click Image to Enlarge)

SIL linguists work in partnership with the world’s ethnolinguistic minority communities to support language development and language documentation efforts, with a special focus on endangered languages. Publications by SIL staff are made available through SIL International Publications and the SIL Language & Culture Archives, with some materials available for free download for personal use and study.
 

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