The McGill Linguistics Department is very happy to welcome new professor James Crippen, who will be joining us in January 2021.
James Crippen [ˈkɹɪ.pən] specializes in morphosyntax, information structure, and the structure of the lexicon. He works primarily on Tlingit as well as on other languages in the Na-Dene (Dene-Eyak-Tlingit) family. Particular topics he has worked on include the structure of complex words (‘polysynthesis’), the syntactic and semantic properties of roots, event structure and grammatical aspect, focus and nominal predication, the phonetics of ejective fricatives, language documentation, and historical reconstruction in Na-Dene. In addition he has interests in languages of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest of North America, Chinook Jargon and Chinuk Wawa, and more generally indigenous languages of North America. James is Tlingit [ˈklɪŋ.ˌkɪt] (Tl. Lingít [ɬìn.ˈkít]) and holds the names Dzéiwsh [tséːwʃ] and Gunyaa [kʷùn.ˈjàː]. He is a member of the Deisheetaan [tèː.ʃìː.ˈtʰàːn] clan of the Raven moiety (Laayineidí [ɬàː.jì.ˈnèː.tí]), from the Kaḵáakʼw Hít [kʰà.qʰáːkʼʷ hít] ‘Basket House’ group known as the Ḵakʼweidí [qʰà.ˈkʼʷèː.tí]. His family is from the Shtaxʼhéen Ḵwáan [ʃtʰàxʼ.ˈhíːn qʰʷáːn] at the mouth of the Stikine River, based in Ḵaachx̱an.áakʼw [qʰàːtʃ.χàn.ˈʔáːkʼʷ] known in English as Wrangell, Alaska.
Welcome aboard James!