Jessica Coon Explained

Jessica Coon
Module:	Embed: yes Field: Syntax, indigenous languages Doctoral Advisor: David Pesetsky Thesis Title: Complementation in Chol (Mayan): A Theory of Split Ergativity Thesis Year: 2010 Thesis Url: http://mitwpl.mit.edu/catalog/xcoo01

Jessica Coon is a professor of linguistics at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in syntax and indigenous languages.^[1] She was the linguistics expert consultant for the 2016 film Arrival.^{[2] [3]}

Coon works on ergativity, split ergativity, case and agreement, nominalization, field methodology, and collaborative language work in Ch'ol and Chuj (Mayan) and Mi'gmaq (Algonquian).^[4]

Early life and education

Coon received her PhD from MIT in 2010 with a dissertation on aspect-based split ergativity, with a focus on the Ch'ol (Mayan) language, and cross-linguistic extensions.^[5]

Coon received her BA in linguistics-anthropology from Reed College in May 2004.^[6]

Career

Coon teaches linguistics to both graduate and undergraduate students at McGill University.^[7]

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.^[8]

Coon was consulted during the finalization of the script for Denis Villeneuve's Arrival for her linguistics expertise.^[9] She wrote a piece for the Museum of the Moving Image on fieldwork and alien grammars, following her work on Arrival.^[10]

Since 2018, Coon has led a National Geographic project "to record, transcribe, and translate narratives across different dialects of Ch'ol."^[11]

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.^[12]
• 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.^[13]

References

1. Web site: 25 Canada Research Chairs for McGill : McGill Reporter. publications.mcgill.ca. 2016-11-26.
2. Web site: CTV National News: The McGill prof who taught filmmakers to speak alien. CTVNews. 2016-11-26.
3. Web site: The Scientist Who Helped Amy Adams Talk to Aliens in "Arrival" - Facts So Romantic - Nautilus. Nautilus. 2016-11-26. 2016-11-11.
4. Web site: Jessica Coon. jessica.lingspace.org. 2016-11-26.
5. Web site: Complementation in Chol (Mayan): A Theory of Split Ergativity MITWPL. (MITWPL). MIT Working Papers in Linguistics. mitwpl.mit.edu. 2016-11-26.
6. Web site: CV Jessica Coon. jessica.lingspace.org. en-US. 2017-02-27.
7. Web site: Jessica Coon. Linguistics. en. 2019-04-03.
8. Web site: Mi'gmaq Language Resources. 2017-02-27.
9. News: Watchwords: Denis Villeneuve's new film, Arrival, gets to the heart of language. Abley. Mark. November 4, 2016. Montreal Gazette. en-CA. January 5, 2017.
10. Web site: Sloan Science & Film. scienceandfilm.org. 2019-04-03.
11. Web site: Ch'ol Documentation Project. Ch'ol . 4 April 2019.
12. Web site: Ch'ol. Jessica Coon, McGill University.. 2017-02-27.
13. Book: Coon, Jessica. Aspects of Split Ergativity. Oxford University Press. 2013. 9780199858743. Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax.

External links

• Academic homepage