Henry Allan Gleason (linguist)

This article is about the linguist. For his father, the botanist, see Henry A. Gleason (botanist).

Henry Allan 'Al' Gleason Jr. (April 18, 1917 – January 13, 2007) was an American linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto.

Henry Allan Gleason
With his brother, mathematician Andrew Mattei Gleason (left), in Toronto, 1969
Born	April 18, 1917
Died	January 13, 2007(2007-01-13) (aged 89)
Alma mater	Hartford Seminary
Scientific career
Fields	Linguistics
Institutions	University of Toronto

Career

Gleason began studying at Hartford Seminary in 1938 and received his PhD in 1946.^[1] His 1961 text "Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics" (with an accompanying workbook)^[2] was described in the journal Language as a suitable update to Leonard Bloomfield's well-known textbook Language.^[3] Gleason retired in 1982.^[4]

Personal life

Gleason was a member of the American Bible Society,^[2] and a pastor in Fancy Gap, Virginia.^[5] His father was botanist Henry Gleason, and mathematician Andrew Gleason was his brother.