Doctoral Programme in Languages and Translation Studies (Utuling)

In applied language studies, Utuling offers supervision in different fields of language studies, such as, the study of discourse, pragmatics, interaction and cognitive linguistics. The research topics can relate to following themes: multilingualism, language policy, politics of language education, multiliteracy, language attitudes and ideologies; minority languages, language revitalization, new language speakers and language activation; learning and teaching languages, digital communication, interaction, cultural and social issues related to languages and changes in languages; identities and language communities; organizational communication; interaction with AI (chatbots, robots); new and innovative theories and methodologies in applied language studies.

Contact person: Professor Marjut Johansson, marjut.johansson@utu.fi or Professor Pekka Lintunen, pekka.lintunen@utu.fi

In Chinese the research explores Mandarin in contemporary Sinophone societies, the intersection of language and technology, the interaction between language and cognition, and the role of language in social change. We explore topics at the intersection of language, learning, the human mind, society, and technology. We welcome prospective doctoral researchers who are interested in digital communications, corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, CSL/CFL (Chinese as a second language/Chinese as a foreign language) teaching and learning, discourse analysis of emerging Sinophone social phenomena, and the linguistic solutions to AI advancements.

Contact person: Assistant Professor Hui Shi, hui.shi(at)utu.fi

The discipline that involves the study of classical languages and culture is called classical philology, which traditionally explores classical culture through the Greek and Latin languages and the texts written in these languages. Due to this historical aspect, the research conducted in the field is interdisciplinary: depending on the research topic, a classical philologist may employ various methods and discoveries from e.g. history, linguistics, archaeology, philosophy, literature, religion and gender studies.

The research conducted in this major is not limited to antiquity, since the classical languages continued to flourish in later times as the languages of science, culture and religion. The over 2500-year history of the classical languages offers virtually infinite possibilities for choosing the topic of your research from Homer to the position of Classical languages in Finland’s period of autonomy.

Contact person: Professor Jyri Vaahtera, jyri.vaahtera@utu.fi

Digital language studies studies language use by combining methods from corpus linguistics, language technology and digital humanities. Alternatively, instead of quantitative methods, the focus can be on the digital world, that is, how language is used in digital contexts such as social media or the internet. We offer supervision for many kinds of dissertations dealing with these aspects. So far, our research focus has been on text linguistics and discourse analysis, but we have also studied e.g. language for specific purposes, interaction and syntax.

Contact person: Professor Veronika Laippala, veronika.laippala@utu.fi

The research profile in the major Finnish language and Finno-Ugric languages is varied and wide-ranging. Supervision is offered in several fields of language studies. The research and dissertation supervision in the Finnish language concentrate on following research fields: grammar, cognitive linguistics and semantics, grammaticalization, interaction, digital interaction, Finnish as a second language and language learning, corpus methods and quantitative language studies, the study of language, health and wellbeing, the old literary Finnish, word formation, history of lexicography, development of literary language, sociolinguistics, folk linguistics, the study of variation, onomastics, and the study of vocabulary and texts related to circular economy.

Research and doctoral supervision in Finno-Ugric languages focus on the vocabulary and grammatical morphology in addition to the study of areal contacts among language relatives in the Volga region.

Contact person: Professor Tuomas Huumo, tuomas.huumo@utu.fi

The research profile in English covers a wide range of fields in English linguistics, literature and translation. We supervise doctoral theses primarily in the following areas: contemporary literatures in English (e.g. postcolonial literature); historical linguistics, philology and book history (especially medieval and early modern English texts, language varieties and language contact phenomena); discourse linguistics (e.g. language and the environment, language and politics); second language acquisition (e.g. development of proficiency, learner language, vocabulary learning and teaching); and translation (e.g. translation history, literary translation, sociology of translation). 

Contact person: Professor Matti Peikola, matti.peikola@utu.fi

At the University of Turku, the study of French has focused especially on the use of contemporary language in different contexts. Doctoral candidates’ studies may vary between following themes or fields of study: interaction, discourses and digital communication, study of pragmatics or argumentation, current issues in culture and society in France and French-speaking (Francophone) world, multilingualism, language politics and politics of language education, French as a foreign language, language learning and teaching, processes of writing, language and translation technologies, translation studies and human–robot interaction. 

Contact person: Professor Marjut Johansson, marjut.johansson@utu.fi

General linguistics is a field of study that examines the universal features and characteristics of human language. The discipline explores linguistic theories, methods, the philosophy of science, history of ideas, and research methodologies. One of general linguistics’ key areas of research is linguistic typology, which studies and compares languages according to their structural features. Research in general linguistics may also focus on individual languages, for example the development of linguistic theories and methodologies or the description of the grammar of less studied languages.

As a major subject in Utuling, general linguistics offers a broad approach to the study of linguistics. It complements major subjects that focus on individual languages or language groups by concentrating on language research that looks at languages from a broader and comparative perspective.

Contact person: Professor Jussi Ylikoski, jussi.ylikoski(at)utu.fi

Research in the German language at the University of Turku focuses on research questions in the fields of language studies, cultural studies and translation studies. The doctoral thesis supervisors welcome enquiries from students who wish to pursue an interest in the areas of: research on grammar, lexicon, texts and history of linguistics; research in corpus linguistics, contrastive linguistics and cognitive linguistics; research questions related to applied language studies, such as language learning and teaching, and multilingualism of individuals and communities; translation studies; cultural representations in different media. Our research focuses on modern German language studies.

Contact person: Professor Minna Maijala, minna.maijala@utu.fi

Italian Studies has a diverse and wide research profile. Our task is to offer supervision of doctoral dissertations on different topics related to the main subjects of the scientific research on Italian language, literature and cultural studies. Our research and doctoral dissertation supervision focus on the following research areas: Italian grammar, the history of the Italian language, comparative linguistics and lexicography, Italian as a second language and multilingualism, the history of Italian literature, comparative literary studies, travel literature and imagology, Italian-Finnish cultural relations including topics related to specific problems of international jurisprudence and diplomacy.

Contact person: University lecturer Antonio Sciacovelli, antonio.sciacovelli@utu.fi

Research in Scandinavian Languages focuses on Swedish language learning, variation of spoken and written language, interaction, pragmatics, language history, and onomastics. The following thematic collaborations of the University of Turku are represented in the department's research: digital futures; children, young people and learning; cultural memory and societal change. Strong areas in our research include Swedish as a second language, spoken and written Swedish in Finland, institutional interaction, grammar and lexicon, multilingualism and language contact, language history and philology as well as digital linguistics.

Contact person: Professor Camilla Wide, camilla.wide@utu.fi

The research profile of Spanish has a clear focus on sociolinguistic themes: language contact, language ideologies, language policy and planning. To give more concrete examples, the researchers of the department have examined themes related to creole languages, Afro-Luso-Hispanic language contacts, code-switching (Basque-Spanish in particular), the repertoires of new or L2 speakers, linguistic landscapes, and language revitalization. The staff of the department can also provide expertise in general discourse analysis, Spanish language teaching and learning, and translation studies.

Contact person: Professor Angela Bartens, angela.bartens@utu.fi

Translation Studies is a new major in the Utuling Doctoral Programme. A growing interdisciplinary field of research, Translation Studies is a global network of scholars where Finnish research and researchers have been among the pioneers. Translation Studies focuses on texts, their production, reception and contexts; people, institutions and companies, and conceptual research. The Turku research community is specialised in the study of literary translation, translation history, translation technology, translation theory, translator training and multilingualism. Doctoral research is supervised by Professor Kristiina Taivalkoski-Shilov from Multilingual Translation Studies programme and/or by teachers in the same programme holding PhD’s in Translation Studies or languages and translation. Potential topics for study are literary and non-fiction translation, computer-aided translation, audiovisual translation or the translating profession, among others. 

Contact person: Professor Kristiina Taivalkoski-Shilov, kristiina.taivalkoski-shilov@utu.fi