born Jan. 26, 1884, Lauenburg, Pomerania, Ger.
died Feb. 4, 1939, New Haven, Conn., U.S.
Polish-born U.S. linguist and anthropologist.
He was a founder of ethnolinguistics, which considers the relationship of culture to language, and a principal developer of the American (descriptive) school of structural linguistics . He became widely known for his contributions to the study of American Indian languages . His best-known work is Language (1921).