About Linguistic Discovery š
Linguistic Discovery aims to educate the public about the science of language and the diversity of the world’s languages.
The scientific study of language is known as linguistics. While many people learn the basics of math or biology in school, almost no one learns basic linguistics. Yet language is something that everybody relates to!
The goal of Linguistic Discovery is to show people the vast diversity in the world’s languages, and to challenge existing language ideologies. The posts on this site highlight endangered and minority languages and dialects to the greatest extent possible.
About Me š±š¼āāļø
Hi! I’m Danny Hieber! šš¼ I am a linguist. š£ļø
I work to document and revitalize endangered languages, while studying the crosslinguistic patterns we see across the world’s languages (a field known asĀ linguistic typology).Ā Check out my academic page here.
I work primarily with theĀ Chitimacha Tribe of LouisianaĀ to help themĀ revitalize their once-dormant language. We are using archival materials to produce a modern dictionary and grammatical description of the language.
I also run the Digital Linguistics (DLx) project, which provides data formats and web-based tools for working with linguistic data.I earned my M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and my B.A. in linguistics and philosophy from the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Prior to and during graduate school I worked forĀ Rosetta StoneāsĀ Endangered Language ProgramĀ to create language-learning software with Native American communities.
During my research, I have worked with theĀ Chitimacha,Ā Plains Cree,Ā Gusii,Ā IƱupiaq,Ā LuiseƱo,Ā Mixtec,Ā Navajo, andĀ SwahiliĀ language communities.