NILI17th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium
“Language and Place”
Call for Proposals
June 25 – 27, 2010
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
The University of Oregon and the Northwest Indian Language Institute are pleased to announce
that we will be hosting the 17th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium
held June 25, 26, and 27, 2010. The University of Oregon, in Eugene, sits on
ancestral lands of the Kalapuya people.
Language and Place are intrinsically tied together. Indigenous thought and lifeways are rooted in the
places people have lived since time immemorial. With this thought in mind, please submit proposals
that support these ideas through educating and informing language workers, advocates, programs, and
linguists from around the world.
Symposium Session Information
We invite you to submit a proposal that will fit in one of four venues: workshops, demonstrations, poster
sessions, and panel sessions. The symposium committee will select proposals that focus on language
documentation, revitalization, maintenance, methodology, research, practices, and teaching which
address and/or incorporate the Language and Place theme.
We are especially seeking presentations that inform and educate Symposium participants on the best
practices in language revitalization/maintenance; not presentations which primarily promote a specific
company, product, service, or solution. Sessions will range in time from 45, 60, and 90 minute blocks.
Important Dates
Complete proposals must be received on February 1, 2010 by 5:00 pm PST.
Online and email submissions are highly encouraged!
The committee will contact you on or before February 15, 2010 to let you know if your proposal has
been selected for presentation at the Symposium. All decisions are final.
Symposium Waste-Free Goal
In being mindful of our environment, our goal is to be a waste-free event. Therefore we encourage
presenters and participants alike to help in this effort to avoid unnecessary waste or excessive use of
paper. To this end, we encourage presenters to offer digital materials to participants when at all possible.
We would be glad to offer the Symposium website as a place for participants to download materials
before or after the Symposium. Please let us know if you would like to take advantage of this offer.
Symposium proposals should include the following:
Name of the person(s) who will be part of the session
Affiliation (tribe, nation, organization, etc.)
Title and description of the session – up to 300 words
Audio, visual, computer needs – *please note, we cannot provide lap top computers
Type of session (panel session, paper, poster session, presentation, workshop)
Length of session (45, 60, 90 minutes)
Presenter(s) profile(s) – on a separate page please include the following information about each presenter
in your proposal: name, title (if applicable), affiliation (tribe, nation, organization, university, etc.),
contact information (including email and phone number), and a biography of no more than 100 words
per presenter.
*Please indicate if you are willing to make your handouts digitally available before and/or after the SILS
Something Different At SILS 2010
This year we would like to offer a space for language groups, alliances, and organizations to meet. If
you are a leader of a language organization, please send in a one page Meeting Proposal. Be sure to
include: your group name, name and contact information for your group’s main person/contact, expected
number of participants, and the type of meeting you will be having (business meeting,
language/language family work group, open discussion forum, etc.). Also, indicate if the meeting is
open for anyone to attend. A meeting agenda would be a good resource to include with the proposal, if
available.
Please mail your session proposal information to:
SILS 2010
NILI – University of Oregon
Attn: SILS Committee
1629 Moss Street
Eugene, Oregon 97403 USA
Send via email to:
sils2010@uoregon.edu
For updated conference information and documents visit the SILS 2010 website at:
http://www.uoregon.edu/~nwili/SILS/SILS.html
Additional Important Dates:
SILS Proposals EXTENDED to – February 1, 2010 by 5:00 pm PST
Notification of proposal acceptance – February 15, 2010
SILS 2010 – June 25, 26, and 27, 2010
A Brief History of the Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (SILS)
