Kenneth Lee Pike

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Kenneth Lee Pike
Linguist

Kenneth Lee Pike (June 9, 1912 – December 31, 2000) was an American

tagmemics, the coiner of the terms "emic" and "etic" and the developer of the constructed language Kalaba-X
for use in teaching the theory and practice of translation.

In addition, he was the First President of the

Bible-translating organization Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), with which he was associated from 1935[1] until his death.[2]

Life

Pike was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, and studied theology at Gordon College, graduating with a B.A. in 1933. He initially wanted to do missionary work in China. When this was denied him, he studied linguistics with the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). He went to Mexico with SIL, learning Mixtec from native speakers there in 1935.[3]

In 1937 Pike went to the

Charles C. Fries. His research involved living among the Mixtecs and developing a written system for the Mixtec language with his wife, Evelyn. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1942, Pike became the First President of the Summer Institute in Linguistics. Its main function was to produce translations of the Bible in unwritten languages, and in 1951 Pike published the Mixtec New Testament. He was the President of SIL International from 1942 to 1979.[4]

As well as and in parallel with his role at SIL, Pike spent thirty years at the

English language learning and teaching
) and was later Professor Emeritus of the university.

Work

Pike is best known for his distinction between the

Java, Mexico, Nepal, New Guinea, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Peru
.

Pike developed his theory of

tagmemics to help with the analysis of languages from Central and South America, by identifying (using both semantic and syntactic
elements) strings of linguistic elements capable of playing a number of different roles.

Pike's approach to the study of language put him outside the circle of the "generative" movement begun by Noam Chomsky, a dominant linguist in the 20th century, since Pike believed that the structure of language should be studied in context, not just as single sentences, as seen in the title of his magnum opus, Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior (1967).

He became well known for his "monolingual demonstrations." He would stand before an audience, with a large number of chalkboards. A speaker of a language unknown to him would be brought in to work with Pike. Using gestures and objects, not asking questions in a language that the person might know, Pike would begin to analyze the language before the audience.

Honors

Pike was a member of the

National Academy of Sciences, the Linguistic Society of America (LSA), the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States (LACUS), and the American Anthropological Association. He served as president of LSA and LACUS and later was nominated for the Templeton Prize three years in a row.[6]

When he was named to the Charles Carpenter Fries Professorship of Linguistics at the University of Michigan in 1974, the Dean's citation noted that "his lifelong originality and energetic activity verge on the legendary."[7] Pike was awarded honorary degrees by a number of institutions, including Huntington College, University of Chicago, Georgetown University, L'Université Réné Descartes (Sorbonne), and Albert-Ludwig Universität. Though the Nobel Prize committee did not publicize nominations, in 1983 US Senator Alan J. Dixon and US Congressman Paul Simon announced that they had nominated Pike for the Nobel Peace Prize. Academic sponsors for his nomination included Charles F. Hockett, Sydney Lamb (Rice University), Gordon J. van Wylen (Hope College), Frank H. T. Rhodes (Cornell University), André Martinet (Sorbonne), David C.C. Li (National Taiwan Normal University), and Ming Liu (Chinese University of Hong Kong).[8][9]

Bibliography

  • See Complete list of Pike's publications (over 250)
  • 1943: Phonetics, a Critical Analysis of Phonetic Theory and a Technique for the Practical Description of Sounds (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press)
  • 1967: Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior. The Hague: Mouton. 1954 – via Internet Archive.
  • 1970: Rhetoric: Discovery and Change, with Richard E. Young and Alton L. Becker (New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World)

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-88312-920-5
    .
  2. ISBN 9781444356755
  3. ^ Hildebrandt, Martha. 2003. "A Portrait of Kenneth L. Pike," in Language and Life: Essays in Memory of Kenneth L. Pike. (eds.) Mary Ruth Wise, Thomas N. Headland, and Ruth M. Brend. Arlington: University of Texas at Arlington, pp. 3-5.
  4. ^ Hildebrandt, Martha. 2003. "A Portrait of Kenneth L. Pike," in Language and Life: Essays in Memory of Kenneth L. Pike. (eds.) Mary Ruth Wise, Thomas N. Headland, and Ruth M. Brend. Arlington: University of Texas at Arlington, pp. 5-9.
  5. ^ Pike, Kenneth L. (1967). Language in Relations to a Unified Theory of Human Behavior (Second Revised ed.). The Hague: Mouton & Co. pp. 37–72.
  6. ^ Headland, Thomas N. (2001). "Kenneth Lee Pike (1912–2000)". American Anthropologist. Vol. 103, no. 2. pp. 505–509.
  7. ^ p. xiii. Jankowsky, Kurt R., ed. 1996. The Mystery of Culture Contacts, Historical Reconstruction, and Text Analysis: An Emic Approach. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
  8. ^ p. xiv, xv. Jankowsky, Kurt R., ed. 1996. The Mystery of Culture Contacts, Historical Reconstruction, and Text Analysis: An Emic Approach. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
  9. ^ p. 9-15. Adam Makai, ed., 1984. Languages for Peace. Lake Bluff, IL: Jupiter Press.

Further reading

  • Brend, Ruth M. 1987. Kenneth Lee Pike Bibliography. Bloomington, IN: Eurasian Linguistics Association.
  • ISBN 0-7619-3029-9
    )
  • Headland, Thomas N. 2001. "Kenneth Lee Pike (1912-2000)." American Anthropologist 103(2): 505–509.
  • Hildebrandt, Martha. 2003. "A Portrait of Kenneth L. Pike," in Language and Life: Essays in Memory of Kenneth L. Pike. (eds.) Mary Ruth Wise, Thomas N. Headland, and Ruth M. Brend. Arlington: University of Texas at Arlington, pp. 3–10.
  • Pike, Eunice V. 1981. Ken Pike: Scholar and Christian. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  • Makkai, Adam. Languages for Peace: Tribute to Kenneth L. Pike. 1985. Lake Bluff, IL: Jupiter Press.
  • Wise, Mary Ruth, Thomas N. Headland, and Ruth M. Brend, (eds.) 2003. Language and Life: Essays in Memory of Kenneth L. Pike. Arlington: University of Texas at Arlington.

External links

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