Henry Allan 'Al' Gleason, Jr. (April 18, 1917 – January 13, 2007) was a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Career

Gleason began studying at

Hartford Seminary The Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary) is a private theological university in Hartford, Connecticut. History Hartford Seminary's origins date back to 1833 when the Pastoral Union of Connecti ...

in 1938 and received his PhD in 1946. His 1961 text "Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics" (with an accompanying workbook) was described in the journal ''

Language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

'' as a suitable update to

Leonard Bloomfield Leonard Bloomfield (April 1, 1887 – April 18, 1949) was an American linguist who led the development of structural linguistics in the United States during the 1930s and the 1940s. He is considered to be the father of American distributionalism ...

's well-known textbook ''Language''. Gleason retired in 1982.Obituary
at the

Linguist List The LINGUIST List is a major online resource for the academic field of linguistics. It was founded by Anthony Aristar in early 1990 at the University of Western Australia, and is used as a reference by the National Science Foundation in the Unite ...

Personal life

Gleason was a member of the American Bible Society, and a pastor in

Fancy Gap, Virginia Fancy Gap is a census-designated place (CDP) in Carroll County, Virginia. The population was 237 at the 2010 census. Geography Fancy Gap is located at (36.669884, −80.700892). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area ...

. His father was botanist

Henry Gleason Henry Allan Gleason (1882–1975) was an American ecologist, botanist, and taxonomist. He was known for his endorsement of the individualistic or open community concept of ecological succession, and his opposition to Frederic Clements's concept ...

, and mathematician

Andrew Gleason Andrew Mattei Gleason (19212008) was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to widely varied areas of mathematics, including the solution of Hilbert's fifth problem, and was a leader in reform and innovation in teaching at ...

was his brother.

References

External links

Biography at Glottopedia
1917 births 2007 deaths Hartford Seminary alumni University of Toronto faculty Linguists from the United States 20th-century linguists {{US-linguist-stub