Asriaty R. Purba was born in Saran Padang on November 22, 1962. She is an alumna of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), having completed her undergraduate studies in 1981. In 2007, she earned her Master's degree in Linguistics from the USU Graduate School in Medan.

She has served as a lecturer at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, since 1982. Throughout her academic career, she has been actively engaged in research. Her research projects include Local Wisdom in Environmental Conservation in North Sumatra Folklore (2015), conducted in collaboration with PT Inalum (Persero); Morphology of the Tanjung Balai Malay Dialect: A Process-Based Approach (2016), funded by the USU Higher Education Research Program (BPPTN); Conversational Models in the Marunjuk Traditional Ceremony of the Toba Batak Community: A Pragmatic Study (2017); Phonotactics of the Simalungun Language (2018), funded by the USU TALENTA Research Scheme; and The Local Wisdom of Limbaga Simalungun: An Oral Tradition Study (2019).

Asriaty has also actively participated in international academic conferences. In 2017, she presented a paper entitled The Tradition of Membere Sulang-Sulang Ni Pahompu, Mambere Tungkot, and Duda-Duda in the Simalungun Ethnic Community at the 3rd National Archaeology Seminar, Exploring Culture, History, and Heritage, held at Universiti Sains Malaysia. In the same year, she presented another paper, Hutinta (Riddles) in the Oral Tradition of the Simalungun Ethnic Community, at the International Conference on Sumatra's Local Wisdom: Local Wisdom for Sustainable Development, hosted by Universitas Sumatera Utara in Medan.

In October 2020, she was again invited as a presenter at an international seminar, where she presented a paper entitled Structure and Function of Expressions of People's Beliefs (Superstitions) in Sigodang Village, Simalungun Regency.