Many minority languages are unwritten, undocumented, and thus considered unsuitable for institutional communication and for inclusion in national literacy campaigns. Literacy should be set in a context that puts the local people at the center of the process, respects their cultural identity, and enables them to set their own agenda for socioeconomic and cultural development. Within such an orientation, literacy in minority languages finds its justification, since it will enable genuine two-way communication in which local self-expression is at least as important as the transmission of information and messages to the local community. Issues related to minority language literacy include the following: (1) many languages have only hundreds of speakers; (2) many of these languages are marginal to the mainstream of national life; (3) some people think minority language literacy impedes national unity; (4) some people favor a national language; and (5) resources for developing minority language literacy are limited. Minority language use is inappropriate as preparation for higher education, national-level administration, and employment in national institutions. The process of introducing literacy into a community whose language is an unwritten minority language involves a basic research phase, a student motivational phase, the phase during which the program is implemented, and a phase in which local trained personnel provide materials for neoliterate people. (CML)