Timothy Montler is an American

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and

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 ...

. Montler is a professor of

linguistics 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 ...

at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

, as of 2013. He has worked to preserve the

Klallam language Klallam, Clallam, Ns'Klallam or S'klallam (endonym: Nəxʷsƛ̓ay̓əmúcən), is a Straits Salishan language that was traditionally spoken by the Klallam peoples at Becher Bay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and across the Strait of Ju ...

since 1990. Montler collaborated with

Adeline Smith Adeline Smith (March 15, 1918 – March 19, 2013) (Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe) was an American elder, lexicographer, activist, and cultural preservationist. She was a member of one of four indigenous Klallam communities of the Pacific Northwest. ...

, a

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (or Nəxʷsƛ̓áy̓əm ("strong people") in Klallam ) is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native Americans in the United States, Native American nation in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. ...

elder, to create the first

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...

. He and Smith also composed the world's first Klallam language

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

, which was published in December 2012 by the

University of Washington Press The University of Washington Press is an American academic publishing house. The organization is a division of the University of Washington, based in Seattle. Although the division functions autonomously, they have worked to assist the universit ...

. Montler and Smith had collaborated on the Klallam

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

throughout the 1990s, 2000–02, and early 2010s. Adeline Smith added 12,000 words and phrases, the largest single contribution to the dictionary. Montler also worked closely with other Native Klallam speakers, including

Hazel Sampson Hazel M. Sampson (May 26, 1910 – February 4, 2014) was an American Klallam elder and language preservationist. Sampson was the last native speaker of the Klallam language, as well as the oldest member of the Klallam communities at the time of h ...

, Ed Sampson, and Bea Charles.

References

American lexicographers Linguists from the United States University of North Texas faculty Klallam Living people Linguists of Salishan languages Linguists of Muskogean languages Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-linguist-stub