Leanne Hinton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Leanne Hinton
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Leanne Hinton speaking at an Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival conference, 2008
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| Born | 28 September 1941 United States
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | PhD, University of California, San Diego (1977) |
| Occupation | Linguist, Professor Emerita |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Employer | University of California, Berkeley (Emerita) |
| Known for | Language revitalization, American Indian languages, sociolinguistics |
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Notable work
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Bringing Our Languages Home, How to Keep Your Language Alive |
| Awards | Cultural Freedom Award (2006), Language, Linguistics, and the Public award (2012) |
Leanne Hinton (born 28 September 1941) is an American linguist. A linguist is a scientist who studies human language. She is a retired professor of linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley.
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Studying Languages
Leanne Hinton earned her doctorate degree in 1977 from UC San Diego. She joined the faculty at Berkeley in 1978. There, she began to focus on the languages spoken in California.
What Leanne Hinton Studies
Professor Hinton is an expert in American Indian languages. She also studies sociolinguistics, which looks at how language is used in society. A big part of her work is language revitalization. This means helping to bring languages back to life when they are in danger of disappearing.
She is known for understanding why languages are being lost. She also knows how important it is to have many different languages in the world. Most importantly, she helps find ways to save and revive these unique languages. She has worked with Native American groups to help them teach their languages. She also helped them create writing systems and develop stories in their own languages.
Helping Languages Survive
Leanne Hinton helps lead the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages (SCOIL). This group works to record and study many different Native American languages. She also works with groups that help bring languages back. One important group is the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. She helps with their "Breath of Life" conferences. These events bring together people who want to learn and speak their ancestral languages.
Working with another linguist, Andrew Garrett, Leanne Hinton helped put many SCOIL records online. These records are now available through the California Language Archive. She also helped create the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program. This program helps people learn a language by spending time with a fluent speaker.
Awards and Recognition
Leanne Hinton has received special awards for her important work.
- In 2006, she won a Cultural Freedom Award from the Lannan Foundation. This award honors people who help communities keep their unique cultures and creativity alive.
- In 2012, she received the Language, Linguistics, and the Public award from the Linguistic Society of America. This award recognizes linguists who share their knowledge with the public.
