Alton L. (Pete) Becker (April 6, 1932 – November 15, 2011) was an American linguist known for his studies of Burmese grammar and other Southeast Asian languages, including Malaysian, Javanese and Kawi.

He was coauthor with Richard E. Young and Kenneth L. Pike of the widely influential college writing textbook, Rhetoric: Discovery and Change, which introduced a Rogerian framework for communication and rhetoric studies as an alternative to the Aristotelian approach.

In Southeast Michigan, he often attended jazz performances in Detroit, and he also began a lifelong love of canoeing.

[4] He credited this experience in Burma and his study of Burmese for his change in scholarly interests from English literature to linguistics, particularly his work in language and culture, the ethnography of communication, and for his studies of Southeast Asian languages and ancient texts.

From 1961 to 1968, prior to receiving the PhD, he taught English at Michigan while a graduate student under the direction of Kenneth L. Pike.

In many ways, a shadowplay can be understood as a silent movie, with a theatre orchestra playing in the pit.

"[7] Becker's essay is the first to examine Indonesian thought and "text-building" through a lens of language and culture as epistemology.