Paul Proulx (21 November 1942 – 5 December 2005) was an American-born Canadian linguist specializing in Algonquian and Algic studies.

Biography

Paul Martin Proulx was born in Maine in 1942 and completed his bachelor's degree at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

with a major in Spanish in 1965. Proulx pursued a master's degree in linguistics at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1967, after which he began studying the Huayla dialect of the

Quechua language Quechua (, ), also called (, 'people's language') in Southern Quechua, is an Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous language family that originated in central Peru and thereafter spread to other countries of the Andes. Derived from ...

.''Gramática del Quechua de Huaylas'' (in Spanish). A. Escribens and P. Proulx. National University of San Marcos, 1970. Preface by Inés Pozzi-Escot. During his time researching in Peru, he co-authored ''Gramática del Quechua de Huaylas'', published in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

with Augusto Escribens in 1970. After returning to North America, he earned a doctorate in linguistics, again at Cornell. He continued to publish many papers throughout his career, focusing on the

Algonquian languages The Algonquian languages ( ; also Algonkian) are a family of Indigenous languages of the Americas and most of the languages in the Algic language family are included in the group. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from ...

and the reconstruction of

Proto-Algic Proto-Algic (sometimes abbreviated PAc) is the proto-language from which the Algic languages (Wiyot language, Yurok language, and Proto-Algonquian) are descended. It is estimated to have been spoken about 7,000 years ago somewhere in the America ...

. He taught at

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Fran ...

and

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrolment of approximately 3,375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, ...

, living in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

to be near the

Mi'kmaq people The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

and their language. Proulx passed away on 5 December, 2005, of leukemia.

Selected works

* 1970: ''Gramática del Quechua del Huaylas'' (with Antonio Escribens).

National University of San Marcos The National University of San Marcos (, UNMSM) is a public university, public research university located in Lima, the capital of Peru. In the Americas, it is the first officially established (Privilege (legal ethics), privilege by Charles V, ...

. * 1977: "Connective Vowels in Proto-Algonquian."

International Journal of American Linguistics The ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' (''IJAL'') is an academic journal devoted to the study of the indigenous languages of the Americas. ''IJAL'' focuses on the investigation of linguistic data and the presentation of grammatical ...

, vol. 43. * 1978: ''Micmac Inflection'' (Ph.D. thesis). Cornell University. * 1980: "The Linguistic Evidence on Algonquian Prehistory." Anthropological Linguistics, vol. 22. * 1984-1992: "Proto-Algic (I-IV)." International Journal of American Linguistics. * 1985: "The Semantics of Yurok Terms Referring to Water." Anthropological Linguistics, vol. 27. * 1988: "Algic Color Terms." Anthropological Linguistics, vol. 30. * 1989: "A Sketch of Blackfoot Historical Phonology." International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 55. * 2003: "The Evidence on Algonquian Genetic Grouping: A Matter of Relative Chronology." International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 45. * 2005: "Reduplication in Proto‐Algonquian and Proto‐Central‐Algonquian." International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 71.

References

{{reflist Linguists from the United States Linguists of Amerind languages Linguists of Algic languages Cornell University alumni