A linguistic anthropologist, folklorist, innovator in communication studies, educational theorist, and administrator, Dell H. Hymes (1927–2009) was a key figure in the historical development of linguistic anthropology and a major force in bringing ethnographic approaches to educational institutions and their applied research during the mid to late 20th century. This treatment will (1) outline his biography and professional career, (2) focus on his important concept of communicative competence as a critical effort in staking out an alternative to Chomskyan autonomous linguistics, (3) explore the range of his own research agenda, (4) and offer a concluding assessment about his continuing influence in such fields as pragmatics, communication studies, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, ethnopoetics, and education.

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