Velta Ruke-Dravina was a Latvian-born Swedish linguist and folklorist, as well as a professor in Baltic languages at Stockholm University.
14 Facts About Velta Ruke-Dravina
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Velta Ruke-Dravina held the only professorship in Baltic languages outside the Baltics and had a leading role in developing the teaching program on the subject at Stockholm University.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina Tatjana Ruke was born on 25 January 1917 in Valmiera.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina grew up in Latvia, graduating from Riga Secondary School No 2, and from the Department of Baltic Philology at the Faculty of Philology and Philosophy of the University of Latvia in 1939.
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From 1938 and during World War II, Velta Ruke-Dravina pursued doctoral studies in comparative Indo-European language research, but was not allowed to complete the studies as public defense of a thesis in this subject was not allowed in the German-fortified Latvia.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina worked for a while as a lecturer in phonetics and served as an assistant to the linguist Janis Endzelins.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina was involved in a number of projects associated with land-targeting and place-name research at the Latvian language archive.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina continued her academic activities, initially at Lund University, where she taught in Baltic languages in the 1950s, and later at Stockholm University, where she earned a licentiate degree in Slavic languages in 1954, and defended her doctorate in 1959.
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Between 1948 and 1970, Velta Ruke-Dravina worked as a lecturer at the University of Lund, where she was an associate professor in Baltic and Slavic languages.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina became the chair of the Department of Baltic Language and Literature at the Institute of Slavs and Balts at the Stockholm University before 1984.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina was a guest lecturer at universities in different countries.
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From 1982 to 1990, Velta Ruke-Dravina was an editor of the literary yearbook Zari.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina published over 300 scientific articles, and was the author of several books on linguistic issues.
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Velta Ruke-Dravina received several awards and prizes for her activities.