Alenka Jelovšek (10 April 1984) is a researcher at the Section for the History of the Slovenian Language. In her research she focusses on the Slovenian literary language of the 16th century, especially on the development of orthographical norms and personal pronouns; additionally, she researches the development of forms of address in Slovenian through history. In her work she tests the possibilities of using modern language technologies to analyze historical texts. She is a co-author and co-editor of the Dictionary of the 16th-Century Slovenian Literary Language (Vol. 1 A–D published in 2021, an ongoing dictionary on the Fran portal since 2022), member of the editorial board and technical editor of the journal Jezikoslovni zapiski and member of the editorial board of Language Counselling web portal. Through occasional appearances in media she presents topics in Slovenian language history to the general public and deals with some modern orthographical questions.

Research Areas

• historical lexicology
• historical lexicography
• historical morphology
• Slovenian literary language of the16th century historical sociolinguistics

Education, Academic and Scientific Titles

• 2024–: assistant professor of linguistics (linguistic module), Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU
• 2014-: research fellow, ZRC SAZU, Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovenian Language
• 2014: PhD thesis: Osebni zaimki v jeziku slovenskih protestantskih piscev 16. stoletja (Personal Pronouns in the Language of the 16th-Century Slovenian Protestant Writers), Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
• 2014: BA degree History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
• 2011–12: Assistant, History of Language, University of Nova Gorica
• 2010: BA degree in General Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
• 2009: BA degrees in Slovenian, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, and Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
• 2003: matura exam, Gimnazija Ravne na Koroškem, Ravne na Koroškem

Employments:

• 2011–2012: temporary employment, University of Nova Gorica
• 2009–:  ZRC SAZU, Fran Ramovš Institut of the Slovenian Language

Leadership Positions:

• 2019: field editor (XML), Corpus 16: Text Corpus of Slovenian 16th-Century Protestant Writers

Supervision:

• young researcher: Eva Trivunović

Work in Editorial Boards and Expert Commissions:

• 2020–: member of the editorial board of the Language Counselling web portal
• 2016–2017: member of the expert commission for preparation of the tender and assessment of applications for PR-ESF-Flexible Forms of Learning, Slovenian Ministry of Culture
• 2024–­: editor of Jezikoslovni zapiski

Outstanding Achievements, Awards and Grants

• 2023: chief editor and co-author of the 2023 addition to the Dictionary of the 16th-Century Slovenian Literary Language
• 2022: main editor (together with Metod Čepar, Andreja Legan Ravnikar, Eva Trivunović and Mitja Trojar) of the Slovenian-German-Latin Dictionary based on a manuscript dictionary Dictionarium trilingue (1711–1712) by Hippolytus Rudolphswertensis: including paper slip material produced by Jože Stabej
• 2021: main editor and co-author of the Dictionary of the 16th-Century Slovenian Literary Language, Vol. 1: A–D; the dictionary was among the achievements chosen for the Excellent in Science 2022 prize awarded by the Slovenian Research Agency
• 2021: editor of the scientific monograph Gorske bukve 1582. Znanstvenokritična izdaja (Styrian Vineyard Act 1582. Scientific Critical Edition)
• 2019: co-editor of the scientific monograph Oživljeni Vodnik: Razprave o Valentinu Vodniku (Vodnik Revived: Discussions on Valentin Vodnik) (together with Andreja Legan Ravnikar and Irena Orel)
• 2011: Friar Stanislav Škrabec Foundation grant
• 2009: Prešeren Prize, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
• 2008: Prešeren Award, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana