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Morris Halle

 

 
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Morris Halle
 
 
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Morris Halle, né Pinkowitz, is a Latvian-American
Latvian-American

Latvian Americans are citizens of the United States who are of Latvian ancestry. According to the United States 2000 Census, there are 87,564 Americans of full or partial Latvian descent....
 Jewish linguist
Linguistics

Linguistics is the science study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of Meaning ....
 and an Institute Professor
Institute Professor

Institute Professor is the highest title that can be awarded to a List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
 and professor emeritus
Emeritus

Emeritus is an adjective that is used in the title of a retired professor, bishop or other professional. Emerita was used for women, but is rarely used today....
 of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private university research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
. He was born in Liepaja
Liepaja

Liepaja is a city in western Latvia on the Baltic sea and the administrative center of Liepaja district. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
, in 1923, and moved with his family to Riga
Riga

Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....
 in 1929. They arrived in the United States in 1940.

From 1941 to 1943, Halle studied engineering at the City College of New York
City College of New York

The City College of The City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning....
. He entered the United States Army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
 in 1943 and was discharged in 1946, at which point he went to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood of Chicago. Although an older university by the same name existed prior to its founding, the modern University of Chicago credits its founding to the oil magnate John D....
, where he got his master's degree
Master's degree

A master's degree provides a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of profession. Within the area studied, graduates possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theory and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, Critical thinking and/or professional application; and the ability to problem solving a...
 in linguistics in 1948.






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Morris Halle, né Pinkowitz, is a Latvian-American
Latvian-American

Latvian Americans are citizens of the United States who are of Latvian ancestry. According to the United States 2000 Census, there are 87,564 Americans of full or partial Latvian descent....
 Jewish linguist
Linguistics

Linguistics is the science study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of Meaning ....
 and an Institute Professor
Institute Professor

Institute Professor is the highest title that can be awarded to a List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
 and professor emeritus
Emeritus

Emeritus is an adjective that is used in the title of a retired professor, bishop or other professional. Emerita was used for women, but is rarely used today....
 of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private university research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
. He was born in Liepaja
Liepaja

Liepaja is a city in western Latvia on the Baltic sea and the administrative center of Liepaja district. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
, in 1923, and moved with his family to Riga
Riga

Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....
 in 1929. They arrived in the United States in 1940.

From 1941 to 1943, Halle studied engineering at the City College of New York
City College of New York

The City College of The City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning....
. He entered the United States Army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
 in 1943 and was discharged in 1946, at which point he went to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood of Chicago. Although an older university by the same name existed prior to its founding, the modern University of Chicago credits its founding to the oil magnate John D....
, where he got his master's degree
Master's degree

A master's degree provides a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of profession. Within the area studied, graduates possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theory and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, Critical thinking and/or professional application; and the ability to problem solving a...
 in linguistics in 1948. He then studied at Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
 under Roman Jakobson
Roman Jakobson

Roman Osipovich Jakobson, , was a Russian linguist and literary critic, associated with the Russian Formalism school. He became one of the most influential linguistics of the 20th century by pioneering the development of structuralism of language, poetry, and art....
, became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private university research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
 in 1951, and earned his Ph.D.
Ph.D.

Ph.D. or PHD may stand for:* Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group* Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip...
 from Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 in 1955. He retired from MIT in 1996, but he remains active in research and publication. He is fluent in German
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
, Yiddish, Latvian
Latvian language

Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. Alternative names include Lettish and Lettisch. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad....
, Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
, Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
 and English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
. He lives with his wife Rosamond in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England....
. He has three sons, David, John and Timothy, all of whom are married. David is a primary school teacher with a daughter, Casey; John taught music at Yale and now teaches at Bard College as does his wife, and they have a son, Benjamin; Timothy has a daughter, Cecilia. Halle is best known for his pioneering work in generative phonology
Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
, having written "On Accent and Juncture in English" in 1956 with Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an United States linguistics, philosopher, cognitive science, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor emeritus and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
 and Fred Lukoff
Fred Lukoff

Fred Lukoff was an United States linguistics who specialized in the study of the Korean language and was the first president of the International Association for Korean Language Education ....
 and The Sound Pattern of English
The Sound Pattern of English

The Sound Pattern of English is a work on phonology by Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle. It presents a comprehensive view of the phonology of English language, and stands as a landmark both in the field of phonology and in the analysis of the English language....
 in 1968 with Chomsky.

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