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

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 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 systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

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 is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...

phenomena of

Carinthian Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carint ...

, Styrian, and

Pannonian Pannonia may refer to: In geography: * Basin of Pannonia, a geomorphological region (plain) in Central Europe * Sea of Pannonia, an ancient (former) sea in Central Europe * Steppe of Pannonia, a grassland ecosystem in the Pannonian Plain In h ...

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 ( sl, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members o ...

, 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 ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

in 1961 in Slovene and

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

s as well as Slovene and

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...

. There, she received her PhD 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 to Sveti Duh na Ostrem Vrhu). Zorko initially taught at secondary schools in

Ravne na Koroškem Ravne na Koroškem (; until 1952: ''Guštanj''; german: Gutenstein in Kärnten) 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 tow ...

. From 1961, she worked at the Pedagogy Faculty of

University of Maribor The University of Maribor ( sl, Univerza v Mariboru) 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 semin ...

, after 1996 as a full professor of history 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 ...

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 The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

s and their social role, especially from

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

and

Eastern Slovenia Eastern Slovenia ( sl, Vzhodna Slovenija) is one of the two NUTS-2 Regions of Slovenia. The region forms the eastern part of the country and includes the cities of Maribor, Celje and Velenje. It is the poorer of the two regions of Slovenia. E ...

. In Carinthia, she devoted particular attention to the dialect in the works of

Prežihov Voranc Prežihov Voranc (10 August 1893 – 18 February 1950) was the pen name of Lovro Kuhar, a Slovene writer and communist political activist. Voranc's literary reputation was established during the 1930s with a series of Slovene novels and short ...

, specifically in his ''Jamnico'', ''Samorastnike'', and ''Solzice''. Zorko dealt with multilingual intertwining primarily with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

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 Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic o ...

.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

, Styrian, and

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 Archdioce ...

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