Dave Pippin

David Alan Pippin—Dave—died on July 6, 2024 in Boston of cancer. He was 59. Dave was passionate about boat building, sailing, mushroom hunting, cooking, hiking, biking, skiing, books, podcasts, music, movies, letterpress printing, Polish language classes, polka dancing, radio broadcasting, and the arts and sciences, most especially linguistics.

Dave had a long career as a K-12 teacher in independent and in public schools, much of it devoted to introducing language science into the English language arts curriculum. More recently, he worked as an educator with Community Boat Building, as a National Park Service ranger, and as a boat rigger on the U.S.S. Constitution.

Dave was an experienced, enthusiastic middle school English teacher working at an independent school in Seattle when he came to linguistics. In 1999, in a brief exchange with Steven Pinker at his book talk for Words and Rules, Dave learned that Wayne O’Neil and Maya Honda had developed linguistics materials for schools. He wrote Wayne:

My goal is to bring a fresh perspective to the study of grammar in my fifth grade classrooms…..[My students] would appreciate a bit of linguistics because patterns appeal to them. I taught them SVO vs. SOV languages, and that sunk in more than any subject-predicate underlining exercise ever did.

Wayne, an advocate for bringing linguistics into the school curriculum, replied, suggesting that he and Maya pay a visit to set up a mini-course. Dave agreed, which led to their nearly two-decade-long collaboration developing a problem-set approach to deepening middle schoolers’ scientific inquiry skills through the investigation of language.

In 2004, the trio gave what was likely the first paper co-presented by a teacher at an LSA annual meeting. During the Q&A period, someone asked Dave–still a novice at linguistics–if he taught his fifth graders the IPA. Looking puzzled, he answered, “No. The only IPA I know is beer.” The audience laughed; Dave laughed. He was a hit!

Eventually, Dave did learn the IPA and even taught it on occasion. In 2005, his education as a linguist advanced dramatically when he attended the LSA Institute at Harvard and MIT. Taking courses with Morris Halle, Norvin Richards, Lisa Green, and others was a heady experience for him.

Dave also collaborated with Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck for nearly two decades. This trio’s work in linguistics education benefited from their shared location in Washington State and led Dave to attend the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Western Washington University Linguistics in Education workshops. Dave’s multitude of interests and diverse teaching contexts motivated their work integrating linguistics into social studies, English language arts, and science classes.

Dave led the way for teachers to become full participants in the LSA. He attended and presented at annual meetings and, in 2015, became the first teacher to serve as Chair of the Linguistics in the School Curriculum committee, bringing energy, enthusiasm and Portland’s famous Voodoo doughnuts to a much-too-early LiSC meeting!

For a longer remembrance, including Dave’s publications and presentations, visit this link.