Marie-Lucie Tarpent

Summary

Marie-Lucie Tarpent (born November 9, 1941) is a French-born Canadian linguist, formerly an associate professor of linguistics and French at Mount Saint Vincent University [MSVU], Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is known for her descriptive work on the Nisga'a language, a member of the Tsimshianic language family,[1][2] and for her proof of the affiliation of the Tsimshianic languages to the Penutian language group.[3]

Marie-Lucie Tarpent
Born (1941-11-09) November 9, 1941 (age 82)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Paris BA
Cornell University MA
University of Victoria PhD
ThesisA Grammar of the Nisgha Language (1987)
Academic work
DisciplineLinguist
InstitutionsCoast Mountain College (formerly Northwest Community College)
Mount Saint Vincent University
Main interestsNisga'a language
Notable works"Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages."

Early life and education edit

Marie-Lucie Tarpent was born on November 9, 1941, in Tonnerre, France.[2] Tarpent graduated with a licence ès lettres (bachelor's) degree in English and German from University of Paris, Sorbonne in 1963.[4] The following year, she attended the University of Vermont before earning a master's degree in linguistics in 1965 from Cornell University.[2] From 1967–1970 and 1974–1977, Tarpent attended Simon Fraser University.[2][5] She was on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council doctoral fellowship in from 1981–1983.[2] In 1983, Tarpent was a part-time instructor at Northwest Community College (now called "Coast Mountain College").[4] She completed her Doctorate in Linguistics at the University of Victoria in 1989.[4]

Career edit

In addition to her work on the Nisga'a language, in the 1990s she contributed to the expansion of Harlan I. Smith's early work: Ethnobotany of the Gitksan Indians of British Columbia with details of the Gitksan language. The expanded version was published in 1997.[6][7] While at the University of Victoria, she published an analysis of the counting systems of the Nishga and Gitskan languages.[8]

In 1998, Tarpent, with linguist Daythal Kendall, presented a paper on the lack of evidence for a close relationship between the Oregon Penutian languages Takelma and Kalapuyan, and therefore for the previously hypothesized "Takelman".[9][10] In 1999, Tarpent authored a chapter titled ""On the eve of a new paradigm: The current challenges to comparative linguisitics in a Kuhnian perspective."[11] She has contributed significantly to the knowledge on Nisga'a and Southern Tsimshianic languages at Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation, particularly in regard to the importance of morphemes.[12]

Starting in September 2007, Tarpent was one of ten senior scholars in the field of linguistics to participate in the International Polar Year project "Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages."[4][13]

Works edit

  • Tarpent, Marie-Lucie (1982). Ergative and accusative: a single representation of grammatical relations with evidence from Nisgha. University of Victoria: Working Papers of the Linguistic Circle 2:1.
  • Tarpent, Marie-Lucie (1983). Morphophonemics of Nisgha plural formation: a step towards Proto-Tsimshian reconstruction. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics 8.2. pp. 123–214.
  • Tarpent, M. L. (1987). A Grammar of the Nisgha Language. University of Victoria. ISBN 978-0-315-68126-2.
  • Tarpent, M. L. (January 1997). "Tsimshianic and Penutian: Problems, Methods, Results, and Implications". International Journal of American Linguistics. 63 (1): 65–112. doi:10.1086/466314. S2CID 145019037.
  • L. J. Brinton, ed. (2001). "On the eve of a new paradigm". Historical Linguistics 1999: Selected Papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, 9-13 August 1999. Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science: 4. J. Benjamins. ISBN 978-1-58811-064-0. Retrieved December 30, 2017.

References edit

  1. ^ 1986 (editor/compiler) Han'iimagoon'isgum-algax_hl Nisg_a'a/Nisgha Phrase Dictionary. New Aiyansh, B.C.: School District 92 (Nisgha). 564 pp. [A very Copious phrase book in 38 chapters with Nisgha/English and English/Nisgha Indexes; about 5,000 Nisgha items indexed]
  2. ^ a b c d e Tarpent, Marie-Lucie (1992). A grammar of the Nisgha language. Ottawa: National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada. ISBN 0315681268. OCLC 28018655.
  3. ^ Tarpent, Marie-Lucie (1997-01-01). "Tsimshianic and Penutian: Problems, Methods, Results, and Implications". International Journal of American Linguistics. 63 (1): 65–112. doi:10.1086/466314. ISSN 0020-7071. S2CID 145019037.
  4. ^ a b c d "IPY: Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages | M. L. Tarpent". 2012-10-05. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  5. ^ "Biographies: Marie-Lucie Tarpent". Yinka Déné Language Institute. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Bibliography of Materials on the Gitksan Language". Yinka Déné Language Institute. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  7. ^ Smith, Harlan Ingersoll; Compton, Brian D.; Tarpent, Marie-Lucie (1997). Ethnobotany of the Gitksan Indians of British Columbia. Canadian Museum of Civilization. ISBN 978-0-660-15968-3.
  8. ^ Tarpent, Marie-Lucie (1983). "The Evolution of the Nisgha Counting System: A Window on Cultural Change". University of Victoria: Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle, Vol 3, No 1. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  9. ^ 1998 On the relationship between Takelma and Kalapuyan: Another look at "Takelman". Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas.
  10. ^ Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press.
  11. ^ Brinton, Laurel J. (2001). Historical linguistics 1999: selected papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, 9-13 August 1999. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. ISBN 1588110648. OCLC 70769055.
  12. ^ Marsden, Susan (2012). "The Gitk'a'ata, their History, and their Territories" (PDF). Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  13. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award#0732787 - IPY-Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-29.

External links edit

  • CV from the University of Alaska