Ron Scollon: 1939-2009

I am sorry to announce that Ron Scollon passed away January 1, 2009 at his Seattle home. Ron spent his early years as a linguist at the Alaska Native Language Center, where he contributed to the documentation of several Athabascan languages, including Tanacross. But he is perhaps best known for his work in the area of interethnic communication. His 1980 monograph on Athabascan-English Interethnic Communication is still widely used in Alaskan classrooms. Like many of Ron's books, this work was co-authored with his wife Suzanne.

Scollon received training in Athabascan linguistics from reknown Athabaskanist Li Fang-Kuei, himself a student of Edward Sapir. Scollon collaborated with Li on the documentation of Dene Sułine (Chipewyan), and he became the first to apply the techniques of the ethnography of speaking to an Athabascan context. Ron went on to become a preeminent linguist in the field of discourse analysis and intercultural communication, serving for many years as Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University.

As a prolific scholar, writer, and mentor, Scollon has made an enduring contribution to the study of language in its intercultural context -- an area which remains extremely relevant in Alaska today. An expanded bibliography of Scollon's can be found in the 2002 festschrift Discourses in Search of Members.