Pitkin, Harvey

Born in New York City on April 22, 1928, Harvey Pitkin received his doctorate in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963. Under the direction of Alfred L. Kroeber, he directed his attention to a study of the dialects of Wintu (Wintu and Patwin), a Penutian language of Northern California, and later to Yuki and Wappo, California languages of uncertain affinity. Relatively early in Pitkin's career, Kroeber entrusted him with his invaluable collection of Yuki notes and notebooks, feeling that Piktin's ear was better attuned to the subtleties of the language.

In 1960, Pitkin was hired as Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Berkeley, earning promotion to Associate in 1964 and full professor in 1980. He later served on the faculty at Columbia University until his retirement.

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