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Faculty of Arts and HumanitiesDean's Office, Faculty of Arts and HumanitiesJakobi 2, r 116-121 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of History and ArchaeologyJakobi 2 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Estonian and General LinguisticsJakobi 2, IV korrus 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Philosophy and SemioticsJakobi 2, III korrus, ruumid 302-337 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Cultural ResearchÜlikooli 16 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Foreign Languages and CulturesLossi 3 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0School of Theology and Religious StudiesÜlikooli 18 50090 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Viljandi Culture AcademyPosti 1 71004 Viljandi linn, Viljandimaa EST0Professors emeriti, Faculty of Arts and Humanities0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Arts and Humanities0Faculty of Social SciencesDean's Office, Faculty of Social SciencesLossi 36 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of EducationJakobi 5 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Johan Skytte Institute of Political StudiesLossi 36, ruum 301 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0School of Economics and Business AdministrationNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of PsychologyNäituse 2 50409 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0School of LawNäituse 20 - 324 50409 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Social StudiesLossi 36 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Narva CollegeRaekoja plats 2 20307 Narva linn, Ida-Virumaa EST0Pärnu CollegeRingi 35 80012 Pärnu linn, Pärnu linn, Pärnumaa EST0Professors emeriti, Faculty of Social Sciences0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Social Sciences0Faculty of MedicineDean's Office, Faculty of MedicineRavila 19 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Biomedicine and Translational MedicineBiomeedikum, Ravila 19 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of PharmacyNooruse 1 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of DentistryL. Puusepa 1a 50406 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Clinical MedicineL. Puusepa 8 50406 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Family Medicine and Public HealthRavila 19 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Sport Sciences and PhysiotherapyUjula 4 51008 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTProfessors emeriti, Faculty of Medicine0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Medicine0Faculty of Science and TechnologyDean's Office, Faculty of Science and TechnologyVanemuise 46 - 208 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Computer ScienceNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of GenomicsRiia 23b/2 51010 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTEstonian Marine Institute0Institute of PhysicsInstitute of ChemistryRavila 14a 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Mathematics and StatisticsNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Institute of Molecular and Cell BiologyRiia 23, 23b - 134 51010 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTTartu ObservatoryObservatooriumi 1 61602 Tõravere alevik, Nõo vald, Tartumaa EST0Institute of TechnologyNooruse 1 50411 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTInstitute of Ecology and Earth SciencesJ. Liivi tn 2 50409 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa ESTProfessors emeriti, Faculty of Science and Technology0Associate Professors emeriti, Faculty of Science and Technology0Institute of BioengineeringArea of Academic SecretaryHuman Resources OfficeUppsala 6, Lossi 36 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Area of Head of FinanceFinance Office0Area of Director of AdministrationInformation Technology Office0Administrative OfficeÜlikooli 17 (III korrus) 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Estates Office0Marketing and Communication OfficeÜlikooli 18, ruumid 102, 104, 209, 210 50090 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Area of RectorRector's Strategy OfficeInternal Audit OfficeArea of Vice Rector for Academic AffairsOffice of Academic AffairsUniversity of Tartu Youth AcademyUppsala 10 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Student Union OfficeÜlikooli 18b 51005 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Centre for Learning and TeachingArea of Vice Rector for ResearchUniversity of Tartu LibraryW. Struve 1 50091 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0Grant OfficeArea of Vice Rector for DevelopmentCentre for Entrepreneurship and InnovationNarva mnt 18 51009 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0University of Tartu Natural History Museum and Botanical GardenVanemuise 46 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0International Cooperation and Protocol Office0University of Tartu MuseumLossi 25 51003 Tartu linn, Tartu linn, Tartumaa EST0
Marja-Liisa Helasvuo
The University of Tartu conferred the degree of Honorary Doctor of Linguistics on Professor Marja-Liisa Helasvuo for her outstanding contribution to the development of linguistic thought and her long-term cooperation with researchers of the University of Tartu.
Marja-Liisa Helasvuo was born on 19 August 1962. She graduated from the University of Helsinki with a BA in Finnish in 1987 and defended her licentiate degree a year later. She received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1997. Her dissertation, entitled When discourse becomes syntax – a study of noun phrases and clauses as emergent syntactic units in Finnish conversation, investigated the syntax of spoken language, more specifically single noun phrases in oral Finnish. A monograph based on the dissertation, Syntax in the making: The emergence of syntactic units in Finnish conversational discourse, was published a few years later. In 1998, she received the outstanding doctoral dissertation award from the August Ahlqvist, Yrjö Wichmann, Kai Donner and Artturi Kannisto Foundation.
From 1988 to 1997, Marja-Liisa Helasvuo worked as a research fellow and junior research fellow at the University of Helsinki, the Academy of Finland and the University of California, Santa Barbara, and, from 1997 to 2001, as a research coordinator at Finnish graduate schools. From 2001–2004, she was senior research fellow and from 2004–2005 acting professor at the University of Turku. Since 2005, she is a full professor of Finnish at the University of Turku, since 2015, chairs the Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, and since 2017, is the vice dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Turku. Helasvuo also has the title of docent from the University of Helsinki since 2000, and is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters since 2013.
The backbone of her research has been spoken language and the use and emergence of grammar in communication. Professor Helasvuo has published nearly 100 scientific publications, edited a number of prestigious international volumes and special issues of journals and led several international research projects. She has supervised or co-supervised a total of 24 doctoral dissertations, 13 of which have been defended by now. She has also been very active in other research-related work, such as reviewing doctoral theses and articles, evaluating research grants and professorships. She has edited the prestigious Finnish linguistic journals Virittäjä and SKY Journal of Linguistics, and contributed as a member of the editorial boards to several international journals. She has been in charge of compiling the Arkisyn corpus of spoken Finnish.
Marja-Liisa Helasvuo has long-term cooperation with linguists at the University of Tartu. She has been a frequent guest at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics for twenty years, participating in seminars and conferences, and giving lectures. The cooperation has been significantly strengthened by her proficiency and interest in the Estonian language. Marja-Liisa Helasvuo's interest in Estonian and in the University of Tartu has also carried on to her supervisees, who have visited the University of Tartu for longer periods either during their doctoral studies or later, and have established contacts and collaboration with researchers in Tartu.
Helasvuo has been the pre-reviewer and opponent of several doctoral dissertations at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics. Linguists from the University of Tartu have also participated in her research projects. As a result of this cooperation, joint seminars and lecture courses on grammar and oral communication have been held in Tartu, Turku and outside Estonia and Finland. The key issues of Estonian and Finnish linguistics (and, more broadly, the grammar of the Baltic Finnic languages) have been thoroughly discussed through this active collaboration. Both the topics investigated and the methodology in use have expanded, and mutual understanding between Estonian and Finnish linguists has been strengthened. Thanks to this cooperation, the study of Estonian and other Baltic Finnic languages has become internationally more visible.
Marja-Liisa Helasvuo plays an important role in research on the Estonian language in the area which might be described as the use and emergence of grammar in spoken communication. Through this, she has directly influenced the development of linguistic thought in Estonia. Cooperation with Helasvuo has helped to enrich and will continue to develop the theoretical and methodological competence of many Estonian linguists.