Zinka Zorko (February 24, 1936 – March 22, 2019) was a Slovenian

linguist 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 ...

and academic. Her research focused on

phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

syntactic In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency ...

, and

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

phenomena of Carinthian,

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

n, and Pannonian dialect groups. In 2003, she was elected a full member of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy. Cultural significance Establis ...

, and a decade later, she received the Zois Lifetime Achievement Award.

Biography

Terezija ("Zinka") Lep was born in

Spodnja Kapla Spodnja Kapla () is a dispersed settlement in the hills north of the Drava River in the Municipality of Podvelka in Slovenia, close to the border with Austria. Name The name ''Spodnja Kapla'' literally means 'lower Kapla', distinguishing the sett ...

on February 24, 1936.''Rojena v narečje: akademikinji prof. dr. Zinki Zorko ob 80-letnici'', ur. Marko Jesenšek, Maribor: FF, 2016 (Zora 114), 721. At many places written as ''Leb''. (in Slovenian) She graduated from the Faculty of Arts at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

in 1961 in Slovene and

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

s as well as Slovene and

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...

. There, she received her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1986 with the dissertation, ''Koroški govori dravskega obmejnega hribovja od Ojstrice do Duha na Ostrem vrhu'' (Carinthian Dialects of the Border Drava Hills from

Ojstrica Ojstrica () is a mountain in the eastern part of the Kamnik Alps with a pyramid-shaped top that is visible from far away. The name ''Ojstrica'' derives from the Slovene word ''oster'' 'sharp'. There is a high wall on its northern side to the bot ...

to Sveti Duh na Ostrem Vrhu). Zorko initially taught at secondary schools in

Ravne na Koroškem Ravne na Koroškem (; until 1952: ''Guštanj''; ) is a town in northern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Ravne na Koroškem, and the largest town and the capital of Slovenia's Carinthia region. The town has a long tradition in the ...

. From 1961, she worked at the Pedagogy Faculty of

University of Maribor The University of Maribor () is Slovenia's second-largest university, established in 1975 in Maribor, Slovenia. It currently has 17 faculties. History The university's roots reach back to 1859 when a theological seminary was established wi ...

, after 1996 as a full professor of history and

dialectology Dialectology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , ''-logy, -logia'') is the scientific study of dialects: subsets of languages. Though in the 19th century a branch of historical linguistics, dialectology is often now c ...

of Slovene. From 1986 to 1996, she also taught at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. The University of Maribor awarded her the title of Honorary Professor upon her retirement. Zorko studied

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

s and their social role, especially from

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

and

Eastern Slovenia Eastern Slovenia (''Vzhodna Slovenija'') is a subdivision of Slovenia as defined by the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). It is classified as a NUTS-2 statistical region of Slovenia. The region forms the eastern part of ...

. In Carinthia, she devoted particular attention to the dialect in the works of Prežihov Voranc, specifically in his ''Jamnico'', ''Samorastnike'', and ''Solzice''. Zorko dealt with multilingual intertwining primarily with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and Hungarian, and analyzed eastern Slovene dialects in comparison with standard Slovene. She was the author of several textbooks and a mentor to teachers in neighboring countries. In 1996 and 1999, she organized two international dialectological

symposia ''Symposia'' is a genus of South American araneomorph spiders in the family Cybaeidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1898. Species it contains six species in Venezuela and Colombia: *'' Symposia bifurca'' Roth, 1967 – Venezuel ...

.Enciklopedija Slovenije (2001). Knjiga 15. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga. (in Slovenian) In 2003, the

elected her member extraordinary and in 2009, a full member.''Veliki splošni leksikon'' (2006). Knjiga 20. Ljubljana: DZS. (in Slovenian) In 2013, she received the Zois Lifetime Achievement Award (''Zoisova nagrada'') for research on the phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary of the Carinthian, Styrian, and Pannonian dialect groups. She died in

Selnica ob Dravi Selnica ob Dravi (; ) is a village on the left bank of the Drava River in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Selnica ob Dravi. The parish church in the village is dedicated to Saint Margaret and belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdio ...

on March 22, 2019.

Awards

* 2013, ''Zoisova nagrada'' (Zois Lifetime Achievement Award)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zorko, Zinka 1936 births 2019 deaths Linguists from Slovenia Women linguists 20th-century linguists Dialectologists University of Ljubljana alumni Academic staff of the University of Maribor Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts