Fifth Estonian elected foreign member of Latvian Academy of Sciences

UT Professor of History and Dialects of Estonian Language Academician Karl Pajusalu was elected a foreign member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. This makes him the fifth Estonian foreign member in the 300-member academy.

“Usually, the most important aspect in becoming a foreign member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences is the general international contribution in your field of research. I think that in addition to that, they considered my research on the Livonian language and the South-Estonian linguistic islands in Latvia, and definitely my diverse relations with Latvian linguists,” was Pajusalu’s explanation to why he was given the honour.

Professor Pajusalu added that this recognition motivates him to do further work in the field of Baltic States and improve the relations of the University of Tartu and the University of Latvia and of course the Estonian Academy of Sciences and Latvian Academy of Sciences.

Karl Pajusalu is Professor of History and Dialects of Estonian Language at the UT Faculty of Philosophy and member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. His main field of research has been the dynamics of phoneme and grammar structure of Estonian language and members of its language family, the levelling of South-Estonian dialects and formation of Estonian sublanguages.

Other Estonian foreign members are researchers Enn Tarvel (1995), Jüri Engelbrecht (1996), Richard Villems (2005) and Marco Kirm (2012).

The Latvian Academy of Sciences is the national institution of sciences of Latvia which unites more than 300 researchers from Latvia and other countries (as foreign members) from the fields of natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, and humanities.

Additional information: Karl Pajusalu, UT Professor of History and Dialects of Estonian Language, tel. 526 7733, e-mail: [email protected].