K. David Harrison is a Canadian and American linguist, anthropologist, author, filmmaker, and activist for the documentation and preservation of endangered languages.
Harrison received his PhD from Yale University as a student of linguist Stephen R. Anderson, anthropologist Harold C. Conklin, and Slavist Alexander M. Schenker.
He specializes in phonology, morphology, and in the study of language endangerment, extinction and revitalization, digital lexicography, and environmental linguistics.
He has received numerous research grants from the National Science Foundation, Volkswagen Stiftung, The Explorers Club, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and Velux Stiftung, including projects on the documentation of endangered languages, cultural anthropology, ethnobotany, and daylight studies.
Harrison's research is in digital lexicography (creating Talking Dictionaries), and Environmental Linguistics in locations such as Vanuatu, Fiji, Vietnam, and Siberia.