Editing Morris Halle

{{short description|Latvian-American linguist}}
{{Infobox academic
| name              = Morris Halle
| image             = Morris Halle.jpg
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Halle in 2011
|birth_name=Morris Pinkowitz
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1923|07|23}}
| birth_place       = [[Liepāja]], Latvia
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|2018|04|02|1923|07|23}}
| death_place       = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = 
| workplaces        = [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
| alma_mater        = [[Harvard University]], [[Columbia University]], [[University of Chicago]], [[City College of New York]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Roman Jakobson]]
| academic_advisors = 
| notable_students = [[Mark Aronoff]]<br>[[John Goldsmith (linguist)|John Goldsmith]]<br>[[Bruce Hayes (linguist)|Bruce Hayes]]<br>[[Mark Liberman]]<br>[[Elisabeth Selkirk]]<br>[[Moira Yip]]<br>[[Arnold Zwicky]]
| known_for         = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| awards            = 
| signature         = <!--(filename only)-->
| signature_alt     = 
| footnotes         = 
}}
'''Morris Halle''', {{ne}} '''Pinkowitz''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|æ|l|i}}; July 23, 1923 – April 2, 2018), was a [[Latvian-American|Latvian]]-born [[United States|American]] [[Linguistics|linguist]] who was an [[Institute Professor]], and later professor emeritus, of linguistics at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. The father of "modern [[phonology]]",<ref>Thus considered by [[Noam Chomsky]], see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxs5h2Wjh5Y Morris Halle (MIT): On the morpho-phonology of the Latin verb], introduced by Noam Chomsky.</ref> he was best known for his pioneering work in generative phonology, having written "On Accent and Juncture in English" in 1956 with [[Noam Chomsky]] and [[Fred Lukoff]] and ''[[The Sound Pattern of English]]'' in 1968 with Chomsky. He also co-authored (with [[Samuel Jay Keyser]]) the earliest theory of [[generative metrics]], and developed the [[Distributed Morphology]] framework with [[Alec Marantz]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Liberman|first=Mark|date=2016-01-14|title=Morris Halle: An Appreciation|journal=Annual Review of Linguistics|language=en|volume=2|issue=1|pages=1–9|doi=10.1146/annurev-linguistics-060515-105131|issn=2333-9683|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Life and career==
Halle was born - as '''Morris Pinkowitz''' ({{langx|lv|Moriss Pinkovics}}) - on July 23, 1923, in [[Liepāja]], [[Latvia]]. In 1929 he moved with his [[Jews|Jewish]] family to [[Riga]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Q8LAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Halle,+Morris%22+AND+%221923%22|title=E.K. Brown, R.E. Asher, and J.M.Y. Simpson, Encyclopedia of language & linguistics, Volume 1|year=2006}}</ref> He arrived in the United States in 1940 and graduated from [[George Washington Educational Campus|George Washington High School]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/blog/memoriam-sylvain-bromberger|access-date=2022-06-06|title=In memoriam: Sylvain Bromberger|date=2018-10-31|publisher=MIT Press|archive-date=2022-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607053855/https://mitpress.mit.edu/blog/memoriam-sylvain-bromberger|url-status=dead}}</ref> From 1941 to 1943, he studied engineering at the [[City College of New York]]. He entered the [[United States Army]] in 1943 and was discharged in 1946, at which point he went to the [[University of Chicago]], where he got his [[master's degree]] in linguistics in 1948. He then studied at [[Columbia University]] under [[Roman Jakobson]], became a professor at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in 1951, and earned his [[PhD]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1955. He is considered to be, with Noam Chomsky, the founder of the modern linguistics department at MIT.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Marcus|first=Gary|title=Happy Birthday, Morris Halle|url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/happy-birthday-morris-halle|access-date=2021-03-31|magazine=The New Yorker|date=19 July 2013|language=en-us}}</ref> He retired from MIT in 1996, but he remained active in research and publication. He was fluent in [[German language|German]], [[Yiddish]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[English language|English]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Institute Professor Emeritus Morris Halle, innovative and influential linguist, dies at 94|url=https://news.mit.edu/2018/institute-professor-emeritus-morris-halle-innovative-and-influential-linguist-dies-94-0403|access-date=2021-03-31|website=MIT News {{!}} Massachusetts Institute of Technology|date=3 April 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

Halle was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1960.<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation {{!}} Morris Halle|work=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/morris-halle/|access-date=2021-03-31|language=en-US}}</ref> He was [[List of presidents of the Linguistic Society of America|President of the Linguistic Society of America]] in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Presidents {{!}} Linguistic Society of America|url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/about/who-we-are/presidents|access-date=2021-03-31|website=www.linguisticsociety.org}}</ref> He was also a fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], and a member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Morris Halle|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/8935.html|access-date=2021-03-31|website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Halle, Morris {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/halle-morris|access-date=2021-03-31|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

Halle was married for fifty-six years to painter, artist and activist Rosamond Thaxter Halle (née Strong), until her death in April 2011. They had three sons: David, John and Timothy.

Halle resided in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. He died on April 2, 2018, at the age of 94.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.mit.edu/2018/institute-professor-emeritus-morris-halle-innovative-and-influential-linguist-dies-94-0403|title=Institute Professor Emeritus Morris Halle, innovative and influential linguist, dies at 94 |last=Dizikes |first=Peter |date=April 3, 2018 |website=MIT News|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://linguistics.mit.edu/user/halle/ Halle page at MIT]
* [http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/emeritus-halle-0608.html MIT News Office article about Halle]
* [https://news.uchicago.edu/multimedia/lives-linguistics Conversation with John A. Goldsmith and Haj Ross]
* {{YouTube|g8g0A8QR61s|Reminiscenses by Halle at the 50th anniversary of MIT Linguistics, introduced by Noam Chomsky}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halle, Morris}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of Latvian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:George Washington Educational Campus alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Jews who emigrated to escape Nazism]]
[[Category:Latvian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Latvian Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish linguists]]
[[Category:Linguists from Latvia]]
[[Category:MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:People from Liepāja]]
[[Category:Phonologists from the United States]]
[[Category:Morphologists]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Yiddish-speaking people]]
[[Category:Linguistic Society of America presidents]]
[[Category:20th-century linguists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America]]