SIL International

SIL International

Formation	1934; 90 years ago (1934)
Type	Scientific institute
Purpose	Research in linguistics, promotion of literacy, language preservation, Bible translation
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, United States
Key people	William Cameron Townsend (founder) Michel Kenmogne (Executive Director) Karel van der Mast (Board Chair)
Website	www.sil.org
Formerly called	Summer Institute of Linguistics

SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is an evangelical Christian nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages, and aid minority language development.

Based on its language documentation work, SIL publishes a database, Ethnologue, of its research into the world's languages, and develops and publishes software programs for language documentation, such as FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx) and Lexique Pro.

Its main offices in the United States are located at the International Linguistics Center in Dallas, Texas.