Arja Hamari

Researcher

I originally come from Simo and moved to Turku in the 1990s to study linguistics. I studied at the University of Turku and also worked there for a long time as an assistant to the study of Finno-Ugric languages. In 2008, I defended my doctoral thesis on the very same subject, more specifically, on questions related to the polymorphic negations of Mordvinic languages. I then worked for two years as a university lecturer of Finno-Ugric languages at the University of Helsinki, and it seems I have made a home in the capital as well. In 2011, I have been working fulltime on a research project thanks to a Kone Foundation grant. The opportunities afforded by the Saari Residence will help to make the transition into this new rhythm of life.

My current research topic is the abessive case (as well as caritives) in Finno-Ugric languages, the use of which I will be evaluating in languages of the different branches of the language family. This ancient grammatical element is reminiscent of a shared parent language and it seems to fall somewhere in between a case suffix and an affix both in its past use and in some modern languages. On the basis of my research, I hope to be able to define this element both in terms of the history of language and modern languages. My goal is also to examine the case from a wider perspective of “world languages,” or, in other words, to compare it to the use and development of corresponding elements in other parent languages.