Jessica Coon is a professor of

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

and

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

and

indigenous languages An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. This language is from a linguistically distinct community that originated in the area. Indigenous languages are not neces ...

. She was the linguistics expert consultant for the 2016 film ''

Arrival Arrival(s) or The Arrival(s) may refer to: Film * ''The Arrival'' (1991 film), an American science fiction horror film * ''The Arrival'' (1996 film), an American-Mexican science fiction horror film * ''Arrival'' (film), a 2016 American science ...

''. Coon works on ergativity,

split ergativity In linguistic typology, split ergativity is a feature of certain languages where some constructions use ergative syntax and morphology, but other constructions show another pattern, usually nominative–accusative. The conditions in which ergati ...

case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to c ...

and

agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...

nominalization In linguistics, nominalization or nominalisation is the use of a word that is not a noun (e.g., a verb, an adjective or an adverb) as a noun, or as the head of a noun phrase. This change in functional category can occur through morphological tr ...

, field methodology, and collaborative language work in Ch'ol and

Chuj Chuj might refer to: * A component of Russian and Polish profanity * Chuj language, a Mayan language spoken in western Guatemala and southern Mexico * Chuj people The Chuj or Chuh are a Maya people, whose homeland is in Guatemala and Mexico. Popula ...

(Mayan) and Mi'gmaq (Algonquian).

Early life and education

Coon received her PhD from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

in 2010 with a dissertation on aspect-based split ergativity, with a focus on the Ch'ol (Mayan) language, and cross-linguistic extensions. Coon received her BA in linguistics-anthropology from

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

in May 2004.

Career

Coon teaches linguistics to both graduate and undergraduate students at McGill University. In 2011, she began collaborating with language teachers in the Mi’gmaq Listuguj community, in order to document, research, and develop teaching materials for Mi’gmaq, a First Nations language of Quebec. Coon was consulted during the finalization of the script for

Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve (; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Award) for Best Direction, winning for '' Maelström'' in 2001, '' Polytechnique'' in 2009, ''Incendies ...

's ''Arrival'' for her linguistics expertise. She wrote a piece for the Museum of the Moving Image on fieldwork and alien grammars, following her work on ''Arrival''. Since 2018, Coon has led a

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

project "to record, transcribe, and translate narratives across different dialects of Ch'ol."

Key publications

*Coon, Jessica and Lauren Clemens (2018). 'Deriving verb-initial word order in Mayan.' ''Language'', 94,2: 237–280. *Coon, Jessica (2017). ''Ch’ol''. The Mayan Languages, eds. Judith Aissen, Nora England, and Roberto Zavala. London: Routledge. *Coon, Jessica, Pedro Mateo Pedro, and Omer Preminger (2014). 'The role of case in A-bar extraction asymmetries: Evidence from Mayan.' ''Linguistic Variarion'', 14,2: 179–242. *Coon, Jessica (2013). ''Aspects of Split Ergativity''. New York: Oxford University Press.

References

External links

Academic homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coon, Jessica Linguists from the United States Linguists from Canada Syntacticians Women linguists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century linguists Linguists of Algic languages Linguists of Mesoamerican languages Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Reed College alumni McGill University faculty 21st-century Mesoamericanists