Salem Chaker (; born 1950 in

Nevers Nevers ( , ; , later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is a city and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the pr ...

) is a French linguist. A specialist in

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

(syntax, diachrony, sociolinguistics), he is recognized as the "dean" of modern Berber studies.

Biography

Salem Chaker was born in 1950 in Nevers, France to a Kabyle family from the Ait Iraten tribe of Kabylia. He studied at the

University of Provence The University of Provence Aix-Marseille I () was a Public university, public research university mostly located in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. It was one of the three University of Aix-Marseille, Universities of Aix-Marseille and was part of t ...

, then in

Paris Descartes University Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...

where he received his ''Doctorat de troisième cycle'' in 1973 and a ''Doctorat d'Etat'' in 1978. After an early career in the Faculty of Letters of Algiers and CRAPE (''Centre de Recherches Anthropologiques Préhistoriques et Ethnologiques'') from 1973 to 1981, he joins University of Provence serving as an associate professor of Berber Language from 1981 to 1983, and

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

from 1984 to 1989 where he continued his research activities in the laboratory LAPMO (''Laboratoire d'anthropologie et de préhistoire de la Méditerranée occidentale'') founded and directed by Gabriel Camps. From 1989 to 2008, he worked as a Berber Language Professor at ''

Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...

'' ("''Langues'O''") in Paris, where he created in 1990 '' Centre de Recherche Berbère'' (Berber Research Center) he directed until the end of 2009. He is currently Professor of Berber language at the

Aix-Marseille University Aix-Marseille University (AMU; ; formally incorporated as ) is a Public university, public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II of Anjou, List of rulers of Provence, Count of ...

where he is also a research associate at Iremam (''Institut de recherches et d'études sur le monde arabe et musulman'').

Encyclopédie berbère

His involvement in the '' Encyclopédie berbère'' dates back to the launching phase of the project by Gabriel Camps in 1970, when he was still a student at the University of Provence. The founding team comprising only pre-historians and ethnologists, Gabriel asked him to invest in the linguistic field. Thus appeared his first contribution to the Encyclopedie, in Fascicle 1, dated 1970, of the provisional edition with restricted diffusion. It was also his first scientific text, while he was still studying linguistics. He started publishing regularly entries in the provisional edition, then in the final edition from 1984. At the launch of the final edition, he officially became a scientific advisor for linguistics. When Camps retired in 1992, he asked him to ensure the succession of the ''Encyclopédie berbère'' in case of default. Salem Chaker has been in charge of the ''Encyclopédie'' since the death of Gabriel Camps in September 2002.

Works

* * *''Textes touaregs en prose'' de Charles de Foucauld..., Réédition critique avec traduction, Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 1984, 359 p. n collaboration avec H. Claudot et M. Gast * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaker, Salem 1950 births Living people Academic staff of Aix-Marseille University Berberologists Kabyle people Paris Descartes University alumni People from Nevers University of Provence alumni