Brook Danielle Lillehaugen

Brook Danielle Lillehaugen is an Associate Professor in the Tri-College Department of Linguistics at Haverford College, where she serves as Chair of Linguistics at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges. She co-chairs the Tri-College Linguistics Department and specializes in Zapotec languages, combining linguistic fieldwork with digital humanities tools.

• Ph.D. in Linguistics (2006), University of California, Los Angeles

Her research spans technical grammatical description, collaborative language documentation, and revitalization projects for Zapotec languages, including Ticha (a digital text explorer for Colonial Zapotec texts) and online Talking Dictionaries. She focuses on syntax, semantics, morphology, and language change, analyzing Zapotec texts from the 16th–18th centuries.

Current projects include a guide to reading Colonial Valley Zapotec texts to improve access for scholars and communities. Her work has been supported by grants from the NSF, NEH, and ACLS.

• 2018 Ernest A. Lynton Faculty Award for Engagement

Lillehaugen collaborates with Zapotec-speaking communities and undergraduate students, integrating digital humanities, social media, and inclusive pedagogy into her research and teaching practices. She advocates for linguistic diversity and endangered language preservation.