lingvo.wikisort.org - Researcher

K. David Harrison (born 1966) is a Canadian-American linguist, anthropologist, author, filmmaker, and activist for the documentation and preservation of endangered languages.

K. David Harrison
Born	1966 (age 55–56) Ponoka, Alberta, Canada
Nationality	American-Canadian
Citizenship	United States, Canada
Academic background
Alma mater	American University (BA) Jagiellonian University (MA) Yale University (MA)(PhD)
Thesis	Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of Tuvan (2000)
Doctoral advisor	Stephen R. Anderson
Academic work
Discipline	Linguist
Sub-discipline	Environmental Linguistics
Notable works	When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages Subject of the 2008 documentary The Linguists[1]
Website	www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/dharris2/index.php

Biography

Harrison has done documentary field work on endangered languages in Siberia and Mongolia including Tuvan, Tsengel Tuvan, Tofa, Chulym, Monchak, and in India on Munda, and also in Paraguay, Chile, Papua New Guinea, India, Micronesia and Vanuatu. He specializes in phonology, morphology, and in the study of language endangerment, extinction and revitalization, digital lexicography, and environmental linguistics.[2]

He is a Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science teaching at Swarthmore College, an Explorer at the National Geographic Society and a fellow of The Explorers Club. He serves as an Honorary Research Associate at the New York Botanical Garden. His early career research focused on the Turkic languages of central Siberia and western Mongolia. In 2006, Harrison created the first online "Talking Dictionary" a platform that has since expanded to cover 140+ indigenous languages. In 2007–2013, he co-directed the Enduring Voices Project at the National Geographic Society. In 2007, Harrison created the concept of "Language Hotspots", and published the first language hotspots list and map in National Geographic Magazine, a collaboration with linguist Gregory Anderson of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. His book When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge (Oxford Univ. Press, 2007) has been translated into Arabic and Spanish. His book The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages (National Geographic, 2010) has been translated into Japanese.

He co-starred in Ironbound Films' Emmy-nominated 2008 documentary film The Linguists.[1] He served as director of research for the non-profit Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, and has served on the boards of 7,000 Languages, The National Museum of Language, and BeeLine Reader Inc. He is a Member of the Daylight Academy (Switzerland).

Harrison's research is in digital lexicography (creating Talking Dictionaries), and Environmental Linguistics in locations such as Vanuatu, Fiji, Mexico, and Siberia.[3][4][5]

Awards and honors

• National Merit Scholar
• Explorers Club National Fellow (2015)
• National Geographic Fellow and Explorer
• Named to the Explorers Club EC 50: Fifty People Changing the World (2021)

References

As editor

• Davis, Wade and K. David Harrison (2008) Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures, National Geographic, (2nd edition).

External links

• K. David Harrison at IMDb
• Environmental Linguistics
• Page for Swarthmore College Linguistics
• VinUniversity
• National Geographic Society Enduring Voices Project
• The Economist "Seven Questions for K. David Harrison"
• BBC News "The Tragedy of Dying Languages"
• Selected publications available online

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