research

Linguistics

Our main focus is applied linguistics, which entails the teaching and learning of foreign languages, contrastive linguistics, lexicography and corpus linguistics. Much of the linguistic research carried out at our college is driven by the practical need to develop new teaching materials for foreign language acquisition, including academic writing. Many of our linguists are also active in creating corpora and compiling dictionaries. We study a wide variety of languages, including but not limited to English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Scandinavian languages, Greek and Latin. Scholars of individual languages collaborate within the college and with scholars from neighbouring institutes. We share an empirical approach to solving linguistic problems by employing state-of-the-art research methods. Many of our scholars are involved in the digital humanities community.

Our research in applied linguistics entails research and applied work on language acquisition, mainly foreign language learning and teaching. Since one of the strengths of our college is its multilingualism, one strand of research focuses on the interaction between different languages in a multilingual system. Our researchers are also interested in the influence that our native language has on the learning of foreign languages and in language acquisition more generally. Many of our researchers are involved in practical applications related to teacher training and language teaching issues.

Selected publications:

  • Armon-Lotem, S., Haman, W., Jensen de Lopz, K. Smoczynska, M., Yatsushiro, K., Szczerbinski, M., van Hout, A., Dabasinskiene, I., Gavarró, A., Hobbs, E., Kaman-dulyte, L., Katsos, N., Kunnari, S., Nitsidou-Michaelidou, Chr., Sundahl Olsen, L., Parramon, X., Sauerland, U., Torn-Leesik, R. and van der Lely, H. (2016). A Large-Scale Cross-linguistic Investigation of the Acquisition of Passive. Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 23 (1), 27-−56.
  • Kruse, Mari (2014). Võõrkeeleõpe kui sotsiaalne, sünergiline ja teadvustatud protsess. [Foreign language learning as a social, synergetic and conscious process.] Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri / Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 5 (3), 37−56.

Our college prides itself on its multilingualism and this provides a fertile ground for research on different topics related to contrastive linguistics. Our researchers collaborate closely with the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics and there are many ongoing projects between linguists from different departments. The central focus is on taking a usage-based, functional approach to studying various language pairs. The following is a non-exhaustive list of the language pairs studied: Estonian-English, Estonian-German, Estonian-French, Estonian-Russian, Estonian-Spanish, Estonian-Swedish. The language pairs are mostly analysed from the synchronic perspective by taking a semasiological and/or onomasiological approach. Specific topics include rhythm, word stress, demonstratives, aspect, voice, tenses, modal verbs.

Selected publications:

We work with languages in a multilingual environment, which entails usage-based research related to corpora of different languages, both written and spoken. Our corpus-linguistic research includes, for example, corpus-based studies of the passive in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, present tense verbs in bilingual oral narratives, and constructional alternations in written Estonian. In addition to corpus-based research, our researchers are involved in compiling corpora of different types and languages. Some examples of the latter are the Tartu Corpus of Estonian Learner English (TCELE), the corpus of Old Believers’ Dialectal Speech Recordings, and an Estonian electronic text corpus of inscriptions in Latin.

Selected publications:

Text and discourse studies carried out at our college directly relate to the multilingual environment that our students and scholars work in. One of the prominent perspectives taken is the contrastive and comparative study of different discourse styles in different cultures and languages. For example, our researchers have extensively worked on the different discourse practices in Estonian, English and French texts. Another major strand of research in this field covers academic writing. Our researchers have looked into the differences between academic writing in Estonian and in English (L2 English academic writing), between Estonian and French academic genres and in Spanish as L3 academic writing. Finally, another strand of discourse studies analyses the representation of social issues in everyday interaction and media discourse.

Selected publications:

Team

Jane Klavan
Jane Padrik
PhD (General Linguistics)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of English Studies
Associate Professor of English Language 0.2 p
Lossi 3-332
Area of Vice Rector for Academic Affairs
Centre for Learning and Teaching
Head of Centre 0.8 p
Ülikooli 18a–309
+372 523 0972
Her main research interests are (linguistic) methodology and cognitive linguistics. She is interested in finding out what we can infer about our cognitive capacities from the patterns and structures we see in the language data obtained through a variety of methods. The main body of her work has to do with usage-based cognitive linguistics and focuses on linguistic variation in all its guises. Her recent interests include learner corpus research and language acquisition theory. She is a board member of the Estonian Cognitive Linguistics Association (ECLA) and the Centre for Digital Humanities and Information Society.

Research clusters:

Corpus Linguistics in Linguistics

Research and supervision topics:

  • usage-based linguistics
  • sociolinguistic variation
  • learner language research
  • digital humanities
  • empirical methods in linguistics (corpus linguistics, linguistic experiments, statistical modelling)

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Mari Kruse
Mari Kruse
PhD (Spanish Language and Literature)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of Romance Studies
Lecturer in Spanish Language and Linguistics, Programme Director for European Languages and Cultures
+372 737 5319
Lossi 3-420
She has been teaching in the Department of Spanish Language and Literature since 2005. Her main research interests are crosslinguistic influences in multilinguals, foreign language acquisition, and pedagogy of Spanish as a foreign language. In other words, she investigates how languages evolve and interact in dynamic multilingual systems. She manages the Tartu Learner Corpus of Academic Spanish (ELEACTAR), which is one of the largest learner corpora for Spanish, and conducts research with the keylogger Inputlog to observe multilingual writing processes. Her courses at the University of Tartu include an intensive Spanish language course, Spanish Phonetics and Phonology, Spanish Lexicology, Varieties of Spanish, Didactics of Spanish as a Foreign Language, and Latin American Cultural History. She is also the supervisor for students doing various practical training as a part of their studies.

Selected publications:

Kruse, Mari (2020). Palabras cognadas en el vocabulario académico del inglés, español y estonio. e-AESLA, 6, 253-266.
Kruse, Mari (2018). La transferencia en personas plurilingües: los falsos amigos como un obstáculo y una oportunidad en la enseñanza y aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras (doctoral dissertation). Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus.
Kruse, Mari (2014). Võõrkeeleõpe kui sotsiaalne, sünergiline ja teadvustatud protsess. Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri ESUKA / Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics JEFUL, 5 (3), 37-56.

Research clusters:

Applied Linguistics and Contrastive Linguistics in Linguistics
Foreign Language Acquisition in Foreign Language Acquisition and Teaching

Research and supervision topics:

  • acquiring additional foreign languages, especially that of Spanish by Estonians
  • crosslinguistic transfer
  • variation of Spanish, lexicology
  • final papers in teacher training

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Marge Käsper
Marge Käsper
PhD (French Language and Literature)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of Romance Studies
Lecturer in French Language and Linguistics 0.8 p
Lossi 3-403
In her research, contrastive linguistics meets socio-cultural discourse analysis. She has published a series of papers in Estonian-French contrastive linguistics studies (about deixis, modal verbs, and evidentiality markers); has developed the methodology for a contrastive discourse analysis (studying the academic book review text genre comparatively in Estonian and French socio-cultural and disciplinary contexts); and, working intensively on media discourse, she is open also to the digital humanities field. Her leading interest is to use linguistic material to study the socio-cultural reference and the representations made of the societies in discourse.

Selected publications:

Marling, Raili; Käsper, Marge (2021). Communicating Covid-19: Framing Science and Affect in U.S., French and Estonian Traditional Media. ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies, 14 (2), 15−32.
Käsper, Marge (2020). Hélas, un mot pour dire le confinement, la crise et le partage. Interstudia, 28, 71−83.
Marling, Raili; Käsper Marge (2020). Prediscourses as a Discourse Analytical Tool: Tracing Specters of Marx in Estonian Media Discourse. In: Angelique Majory (Ed.). Understanding Discourse Analysis (117−149). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Käsper, Marge (2019). Une particule évidentielle dialogale et les discours académiques. Juhani Härmä, Eva Havu, Hartmut Lenk, Begoña Sanroman, Elina Suomela-Härmä. Studies in Comparative Pragmatics (105−121). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Käsper, Marge; Marling, Raili (2018). Diskursuseanalüüsi muutuv suhe kvantifitseerimisega inglis- ja prantsuskeelses traditsioonis. Keel ja Kirjandus, LXI (8-9), 728−746.
Käsper, Marge; Tohvri, Epi (2015). Georges Frédéric Parrot' prantsuse nimest, päritolust ja retoorikast: rektori tervituskõne keisrile ja selle lausumiskontekstid. Tuna. Ajalookultuuri ajakiri, 1, 36−50.
Käsper, M. (2009). Marx dans la presse estonienne « quinze ans après ». Citations non prises en charge, caractère d’étiquette et autres emplois « décoratifs ». Carnets du Cediscor 11 | 2009 (Le nom propre en discours), 121−136. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/cediscor/800
Käsper, Marge (2005). Deixis et anaphore dans la progression et la cohésion textuelles : différences d'emploi en estonien et en francais. Treikelder, A., Daniele Monticelli, D., Pajusalu, R. De l'énoncé à l'énonciation et vice-versa. Regards multidisciplinaires sur la deixis (383−401). Tartu: Tartu Ülikool. (Studia Romanica Tartuensia; IV).

Projects:

PRG934 "Imagining crisis ordinariness: discourse, literature and image (1.01.2020−31.12.2024)", Raili Marling, University of Tartu, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, College of Foreign Languages and Cultures.

Research clusters:

Contrastive Linguistics and Text and Discourse Studies in Linguistics

Research and supervision topics:

  • discourse analysis
  • phonetics
  • lexicology
  • corpus linguistics
  • metaphors

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Irina Külmoja
Irina Külmoja
cand (Philology)
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Professors emeriti, Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Professor emeritus
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of Slavic Studies
Project Manager 0.1 p
Lossi 3-224

Research and supervision topics:

  • language and culture of Old Believers of Estonia
  • Russian-Estonian contrastive grammar
  • functional grammar of Russian
  • language of Russian diaspora

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Raili Marling
Raili Marling
PhD (English Language and Literature)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of English Studies
Head of Department, Professor of English, Programme Director for Germanic and Romance Languages and Literatures
Lossi 3-333
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Deputy Head of Institute
Her main research interests include gender in modernist and contemporary literature and cultural practices; affects of neoliberalism; the reception of gender in the postsocialist context; the possibilities of combining affect and discourse studies; politics of representation. She has published extensively on these topics internationally and in Estonian. She is the author of the first Estonian textbook on gender studies and has collaborated with various governmental and non-governmental organizations on gender issues.

Research clusters:

Text and Discourse Studies in Linguistics
Contemporary Literature, Society and Cultural Practices of Representation in Modern and Contemporary Literature

Research and supervision topics:

  • contemporary and modernist American literature
  • gender studies
  • discourse analysis and political rhetoric
  • political affects and emotions
  • intercultural communication

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Merje Miliste
Merje Miliste
PhD (German Language and Literature)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of German Studies
Lecturer in German Language and Linguistics
Lossi 3-314

Research and supervision topics:

  • applied linguistics
  • language aqusition
  • plurilingualism
  • positive approaches to foreign language teaching

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Liina Tammekänd
Liina Tammekänd
PhD (General Linguistics)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of English Studies
Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics
Lossi 3-324

Research and supervision topics:

  • corpus linguistics
  • learner English of Estonian speakers
  • second language acquisition theories
  • academic writing
  • artificial intelligence in academic writing

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Reeli Torn-Leesik
Reeli Torn-Leesik
PhD (General Linguistics)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of English Studies
Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics, Programme Director for English Language and Literature
Lossi 3-324

Research and supervision topics:

  • Estonian learner English
  • morphosyntax (esp. voice constructions)
  • English grammar and vocabulary
  • English phonetics
  • first and second language acquisition

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Anu Treikelder
Anu Treikelder
PhD (French Language and Literature)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of Romance Studies
Lecturer in French Language and Linguistics, Programme Director for Romance Studies, Programme Director for Teacher of Foreign Languages
Lossi 3-404

Research and supervision topics:

  • comparative studies of French and Estonian
  • semantics and pragmatics
  • acquisition and didactics of French as a foreign language

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Enn Veldi
cand (Philology)
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Associate Professor emeritus
Natalja Zagura
Natalja Zagura
MA (English Language and Literature)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of English Studies
Junior Lecturer in English Language and Teaching Methodology
Lossi 3-324

Research and supervision topics:

  • acquisition and learning of English as a foreign language
  • oral interaction
  • conversation analysis
  • compensatory strategies
  • plurilingualism
  • action-oriented approach in foreign language teaching

CV in Estonian Research Information System

Klaarika Kaldjärv
Klaarika Kaldjärv
PhD (Spanish Language and Literature)
Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Department of Romance Studies
Lecturer in Spanish Literature and Translation Studies
+372 737 5319
Lossi 3-420
Her main research interests include literary translation, its reception and functioning in society, Hispanic studies, and literary studies (narrative and fiction theory). She mainly teaches translation and literature delivering courses on Spanish literature and literature in Spanish-speaking countries, translation criticism, text analysis, translation seminars, and also courses on the literary texts in the Estonian culture of translation. She has also translated literature in Spanish into Estonian, among other works Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar and The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño.

Selected publications:

Kaldjärv, Klaarika (2019). La función nacional de la traducción: el método equimétrico y el caso del Romance sonámbulo en estonio. [Tõlkimise rahvuslik funktsioon: ekvimeetriline tõlkemeetod ja "Romance sonámbulo" eesti keeles.] Mirko Lampis. EN LOS LÍMITES DE LA TRADUCCIÓN Las prácticas traductivas como cuestión sociocultural (32−41). Hispaania: Ediciones Alfar.
Gielen, Katiliina; Kaldjärv, Klaarika (2019). Mission and Sacrifice: Myths of Estonian Translation History. Acta Slavica Estonica, X, 310−327.
Kaldjärv, Klaarika (2018). Jutustaja ja fiktsionaalsed maailmad. Tõlkija hääl. Eesti Kirjanike Liidu tõlkijate sektsiooni aastaraamat, 6, 74−82.
Gielen, Katiliina; Kaldjärv Klaarika (2018). World Literature in Estonia: the construction of national translation ethics. Interlitteraria, Vol 23 (No 1), 19−32.
Kaldjärv, Klaarika (2017). Tõlkija kui nähtamatu maag: näiteid hispaaniakeelse kirjanduse tõlgetest Jüri Talveti tõlkemõtte valguses. Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica, 17/18, 70−93.
Kaldjärv, Klaarika (2017). Teooria ja praktika vahel ehk ikka puuduvast tõlkekriitikast. Keel ja Kirjandus, 939−943.

Research clusters:

Translation History and Philosophical Approaches in Translation Studies
The History of Translation in Early European Cultural Tradition
Text and Discourse Studies in Linguistics
Ideology of Translation and Translation of Ideology and Contemporary Liiterature, Society and Cultural Practices of Representation in Modern and Contemporary Literature

Research and supervision topics:

  • translation studies
  • literary translation
  • translations from Spanish into Estonian
  • literature in Spanish

CV in Estonian Research Information System