Marie-Lucie Tarpent | |
---|---|
Born | November 9, 1941 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Paris BA Cornell University MA University of Victoria PhD |
Thesis | A Grammar of the Nisgha Language (1987) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Linguist |
Institutions | Coast Mountain College (formerly Northwest Community College) Mount Saint Vincent University |
Main interests | Nisga'a language |
Notable works | "Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages." |
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 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]
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]