Philip S. LeSourd is 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 an

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

professor at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He is one of the world's foremost experts on the

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

Passamaquoddy The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...

language and the Algonquian language family. LeSourd earned both a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. in linguistics at MIT. He became fascinated with Algonquian languages after a class in the Mesquakie (Fox) language from Ives Goddard at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

soon after finishing his bachelor's degree. At the instigation of

Karl Teeter Karl van Duyn Teeter (March 2, 1929 – April 20, 2007) was an American linguistics, linguist known especially for his work on the Algic languages. Life and work Teeter was born in Berkeley, California, to Charles Edwin Teeter, Jr., a college p ...

and later Ken Hale, he spent time residing among the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy communities in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He studied the language both academically, with expert

Robert Leavitt Robert Grandison Leavitt (September 20, 1883 – February 2, 1954) was an American track and field athlete, winner of 110 m hurdles at the 1906 Intercalated Games. Robert Leavitt was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Mercersburg ...

of the Mi'kmaq - Maliseet Institute at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

, and through study with a variety of native speakers. LeSourd, Leavitt, and native Passamaquoddy speaker David Francis, Sr. launched a Maliseet-Passamaquoddy to English dictionary project, which resulted in a published dictionary entitled '' Kolusuwakonol'', about eight years after the project began. The project has continued since, including with funding by

Industry Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; french: Innovation, Sciences et Développement économique Canada; french: ISDE, label=none)''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal I ...

and the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

, and has been made available online. LeSourd has continued actively to research Maliseet-Passamaquoddy and a variety of other Algonquian languages.

External links

Faculty profile
at Indiana University
Kolusuwakonol: Philips S. Lesourd's English and Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary
at Amazon.com
Accent and Syllable Structure in Passamaquoddy (Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics)
at Amazon.com
Maliseet - Passamaquoddy Dictionary
hosted by the Mi'kmaq - Maliseet Institute

by Robert M. Leavitt, presented at the “Revitalizing Algonquian Languages Conference: Sharing Effective Language Renewal Practices II” at the

Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is a museum of Native American culture in Mashantucket, Connecticut, owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Overview The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, l ...

, Feb. 2004, credits LeSourd's role Living people Harvard University alumni MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni American anthropologists Linguists from the United States Indiana University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-linguist-stub