Introduction to Handbook of American Indian Languages and Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico

Franz Boas (1858–1942) is indigenous North America’s most significant non-Native anthropologist.¿J. W. Powell (1834–1902)¿was the first director of the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution and a strong supporter of linguistic research.¿Michael Silverstein is the Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology, of Linguistics, and of Psychology at the University of Chicago. Among many publications in Native American studies are his chapters in several volumes of the Handbook of North American Indians of the Smithsonian Institution.