Alenka Jelovšek (10 April 1984) is a researcher at the Department of the History of the Slovenian Language at the Fran Ramovš Institute 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), editor-in-chief of the journal Jezikoslovni zapiski and member of the editorial boards of Language Counselling and Fran web portals. 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, Leadership and Competences

Employments:

• secondary employment, Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU
• 2011–2012: temporary employment, University of Nova Gorica
• 2009–: ZRC SAZU, Fran Ramovš Institute 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
• PhD supervision: Maruša Žibred

Other Experience:

• visits: Vienna (2023), Lorient (2022), Logroño (2021), Lausanne (2021), Prague (2016)

Work in Editorial Boards and Expert Commissions:

• 2024–­: editor-in-chief of Jezikoslovni zapiski
• 2024–: member of the editorial board of the Fran web portal
• 2020–: member of the editorial board of the Language Counselling web portal
• 2017–2024: member of the editorial board of the journal Jezikoslovni zapiski
• 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

Outstanding Achievements, Awards and Grants

• 2023–2024: co-editor of the critical edition Rokopisna zbirka slovenskih krajevnih imen iz Metelkove zapuščine
• 2023–: editor and co-author of annual additions to the online Dictionary of the 16th-Century Slovenian Literary Language
• 2022: 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: 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 critical edition 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