Aert H. Kuipers
Aert Hendrik Kuipers was a Dutch linguist who, from his pioneering fieldwork among First Nations people of British Columbia during the 1950s, compiled the first detailed reference grammars of Squamish and Shuswap, two almost extinct Salishan languages. He also advised Jan van Eijk in his work on Lillooet and Hank Nater in his work on Nuxalk and did important work on comparative Salishan.
After obtaining his PhD at Columbia University in 1951 with the study A contribution to the analysis of the Qabardian language, Kuipers was on the faculty of the University of British Columbia from 1951 to 1954. During those years, as well as in the course of a 1956 field trip, he collected extensive material on the Squamish language. From 1960 to 1983, he taught linguistics at Leiden University. After 1971, he was a professor in the department of Slavic languages and culture, specializing in Caucasian languages.
Kuipers had a strong commitment to helping to preserve a record of threatened and endangered languages. As a 1998 article in The Economist put it, "Aert Kuipers ... went to Canada recently with the intention of locating and preserving American Indian languages.
After obtaining his PhD at Columbia University in 1951 with the study A contribution to the analysis of the Qabardian language, Kuipers was on the faculty of the University of British Columbia from 1951 to 1954. During those years, as well as in the course of a 1956 field trip, he collected extensive material on the Squamish language. From 1960 to 1983, he taught linguistics at Leiden University. After 1971, he was a professor in the department of Slavic languages and culture, specializing in Caucasian languages.
Kuipers had a strong commitment to helping to preserve a record of threatened and endangered languages. As a 1998 article in The Economist put it, "Aert Kuipers ... went to Canada recently with the intention of locating and preserving American Indian languages.
