Velta Ruke-Dravina (Velta Rūķe-Draviņa; 25 January 1917 – 7 May 2003) was a Latvian-born Swedish

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

, as well as a professor in

Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 4.5 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Together with the Slavic lang ...

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

. Ruke-Dravina's research interests included children's language,

language contact Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for th ...

, and

dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , ''-logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their assoc ...

. Her doctoral thesis was about

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

s in Latvian. She held the only professorship in Baltic languages outside the

Baltics The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

and had a leading role in developing the teaching program on the subject at Stockholm University. In 1980, she was elected as a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities also called simply the Royal Academy of Letters or Vitterhetsakademin abbreviated KVHAA ( sv, Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien Historie och Antikvitets Akademien or or ) is the Swedish royal ...

Biography

Velta Tatjana Ruke was born on 25 January 1917 in

Valmiera Valmiera (; german: link=no, Wolmar; pl, Wolmar see other names) is the largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of . As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2020 – 24 879. It is a state city ...

. She grew up in Latvia, graduating from

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Secondary School No 2, and from the Department of Baltic Philology at the Faculty of Philology and Philosophy of the

University of Latvia University of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Universitāte, shortened ''LU'') is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia established in 1919. The ''QS World University Rankings'' places the university between 801st and 1000th globally, seventh ...

in 1939.Latvijas enciklopēdija. 5. sējums. Rīga : Valērija Belokoņa izdevniecība. 2009. 49. lpp. . From 1938 and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Ruke-Dravina pursued doctoral studies in comparative

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

research, but was not allowed to complete the studies as public defense of a thesis in this subject was not allowed in the German-fortified Latvia. She worked for a while as a lecturer in

phonetics 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. ...

and served as an assistant to the linguist

Jānis Endzelīns Jānis Endzelīns (22 February 1873 – 1 July 1961) was a Latvian linguist. He graduated from the University of Tartu. In 1908, he and Kārlis Mīlenbahs developed the modern Latvian alphabet, which slowly replaced the old orthography used bef ...

. She was involved in a number of projects associated with land-targeting and place-name research at the Latvian language archive. In the autumn of 1944, Ruke-Dravina and her husband, like many others, fled to Sweden. She continued her academic activities, initially at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion licentiate degree A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. It may be similar to a master's degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universities in Europe, Latin Am ...

in Slavic languages in 1954, and defended her doctorate in 1959 (''Diminutive im Lettischen''). Between 1948 and 1970, Ruke-Dravina worked as a lecturer at the University of Lund, where she was an associate professor in Baltic and Slavic languages. Later, she continued her career at the University of Stockholm, first as an associate professor in Slavic languages, then as an assistant professor of general linguistics, and finally as a regular professor in Baltic languages. She became the chair of the Department of Baltic Language and Literature at the Institute of Slavs and Balts at the University of Stockholm before 1984. She was also a guest lecturer at universities in different countries. After retiring in 1983, Helge Rinholm became her successor. From 1982 to 1990, Ruke-Dravina was an editor of the literary yearbook ''Zari''. She published over 300 scientific articles, and was the author of several books on linguistic issues. She received several awards and prizes for her activities. Ruke-Dravina is the mother of astronomer Dainis Dravins. She died on 7 May 2003.

Selected works

* ''Latviešu valodas dialektoloģijas atlanta materialu vākšanas programa'', 1954 * ''Laute und Nominalformen der Mundart von Stenden. 1, Einleitung, Akzent und Intonation, Lautlehre'', 1955 * ''Verbalformen und undeklinierbare Redeteile der Mundart von Stenden : Verben, Adverbien, Präpositionen und Präfixe, Partikeln, Konjunktionen'', 1958 * ''Diminutive im Lettischen'', 1959 * ''Interjektionen und Onomatopöie in der Mundart von Stenden '', 1962 * ''Zur Sprachentwicklung bei Kleinkindern. 1, Syntax : Beitrag auf der Grundlage lettischen Sprachmateriels'', 1963 * ''Rainis kā augšzemnieku valodas pārstāvis'', 1965 * ''Mehrsprachigkeit im Vorschulalter'', 1967 * ''Språk i kontakt.'', 1969 * ''Initial consonant combinations in Lithuanian and Latvian '', 1970 * ''Place names in Kauguri county, Latvia : a synchronic-structural analysis of toponyms in an ancient Indo-European and Finno-Ugric contact area.'', 1971 * ''Vārds īstā vietā : frazeologismu krājums = The right word in the right place'', 1974 * ''The standardization process in Latvian 16. century to the present'', 1977 * ''Jān̨i latviešu literatūrā '', 1978 * ''No pieciem mēnešiem līdz pieciem gadiem'', 1982 * ''Cilvēks un daba latviešu tautasdziesmās'', 1986 * ''Rakstnieks un valoda'', 1988 * ''Svenska ortnamn i lettisk skönlitteratur'', 1989 * ''Valodniecība'', 1991 * ''Jāni latviešu literatūrā'', 1991 * ''Valodas jautājumi : rakstu krājums'', 1992 * ''Latviešu meitene apgūst savu pirmo valodu'', 1993 * ''Latviešu tautasdziesmu varianti : Kr. Barona "Latvju dainās"'', 1993 * ''Darbu izlase'', 2017

References

Bibliography

* * Gustavsson, Sven (2004). ”Velta Rūķe-Draviņa”. Kungl. Vitterhets historie och antikvitetsakademiens årsbok 2004: sid. 724. . ISSN 0083-6796. Libris 9637340 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruke-Dravina, Velta 1917 births 2003 deaths Linguists from Sweden Linguists from Latvia Latvian emigrants to Sweden Women linguists People from Valmiera University of Latvia alumni Academic staff of Lund University Stockholm University alumni Academic staff of Stockholm University Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities 20th-century linguists Linguists of Baltic languages