Pike Center symposium on language and identity

Issues of language and identity can make or break any kind of development project—in large part because they determine the degree of access to new information, ideas and behavior, but also because they influence a community’s willingness and desire to make any kind of change in the first place. Failure to take these concepts into account can result in irrelevant projects, unused products, programs without impact, and lost opportunities. But the relationship between language and identity is complex and varied—and even more so in a highly multilingual, massively migrating world.

These are the issues to be addressed in the first Pike Center symposium which will be on the theme of Language and Identity in a Multilingual, Migrating World. Organized by Fellows Steve Quakenbush and Gary Simons, the symposium will take place as part of SIL's 7th International Language Assessment Conference to be held 9–16 May 2018 in Penang, Malaysia.  A Call for Papers has been issued.