12.3, All: Obituary of Emeritus Kenneth Lee Pike
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LINGUIST List: Vol-12-3. Fri Jan 5 2001. ISSN: 1068-4875.
Subject: 12.3, All: Obituary of Emeritus Kenneth Lee Pike
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Date: 5 Jan 2001 01:14:23 -0000
From: "Gary Simons"<gary_simons at sil.org>
Subject: Obituary of Emeritus Kenneth Lee Pike
-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------
Date: 5 Jan 2001 01:14:23 -0000
From: "Gary Simons"<gary_simons at sil.org>
Subject: Obituary of Emeritus Kenneth Lee Pike
SIL International President Emeritus Kenneth Lee
Pike, 88, died of septicemia in Dallas, Texas,
December 31, 2000.
Born in Woodstock, Connecticut on June 9, 1912, Pike
began his journey toward ministry when his father
became very ill. He promised God that if his father
recovered he would go into the ministry. His father
got well and Pike began fulfilling his promise.
He received a Bachelor's degree in theology from
Gordon College of Theology and Missions in 1933. His
life and ministry took a new turn when he attended
Camp Wycliffe. There he listened to Cameron Townsend
teach grammatical analysis, based on his experience
with Cakchiquel, a language of Guatemala. Lectures
on phonetics fascinated Pike and phonetics became
the focus of his writings for the next decade. Pike
went to Mexico and began studying the Mixtec
language. Knowing no Spanish to use as a common
second language, he began learning Mixtec
monolingually. This holistic approach to language
learning became Pike's trademark.
In 1937 he began studying linguistics at the
University of Michigan under Dr. Edward Sapir,
receiving his Ph.D. in linguistics in 1942. Later he
served for 30 years on the faculty.
In 1938 Pike married Evelyn and together they lived
and worked among the Mixtec people, analyzing the
language, developing an alphabet and translating the
New Testament, published in 1951. The Pikes saw how
having an alphabet elevated the Mixtec's corporate
self-esteem. The Mixtecs would often say, "Now we
are people!" They previously had been told that they
were not people because they had no alphabet.
Dr. Pike had a long and fruitful career as a
world-class linguist and Christian statesman. He
wrote dozens of books and hundreds of articles on
theoretical and applied linguistics.
Dr. Pike lectured in 43 countries. He received many
honorary degrees from universities around the world.
He was president of the Linguistic Society of
America, the Linguistic Association of Canada and
the USA, and a member of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America. Dr. Pike
was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the
Nobel Prize for Literature.
He became president of SIL in 1942 and continued in
that role until 1979. He divided his time between
the University of Michigan and SIL, as Director of
SIL at the University of Oklahoma and helped
establish SIL schools around the world.
Dr. Pike was an extraordinary man. He loved life. He
challenged people to think. He wrote poetry. He
laughed. He used his mind to solve linguistic
puzzles and share the methods he discovered with
others. He was a true scholar, philosopher, poet,
pioneer and author. He was a man who shared his
life, knowledge and love with countless people
around the globe.
Dr. Pike is survived by his wife Evelyn; three adult
children, Judy Schram, Barbara Ibach and Stephen
Pike; three grandchildren and two
great-grandchildren; and one sister, Dr. Eunice V.
Pike.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that
memorial gifts be made to the Pike Scholarship Fund
to provide scholarships/grants for academic research
for SIL members. Checks should be payable to SIL,
and sent to the Pike Scholarship Fund, Attention:
Marshall Schultz, 7500 West Camp Wisdom Road,
Dallas, TX 75236 USA.
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