On June 27, Doctor of Philology, the Professor of the Department of Russian Language, Speech Communication, and Russian as a Foreign Language Department, SSU, Olga Sirotinina has turned 99 years old.
Olga Sirotinina is a world-renowned linguist, Doctor of Philology, the Professor of the Department of Russian Language, Speech Communication, and Russian as a Foreign Language, the Institute of Philology and Journalism, Saratov University. She is SSU Honoured Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The professor considers the Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation title to be the most valuable award.
Olga Sirotinina is the founder and the head of the Saratov school for the study of the functioning of the Russian language in modern society recognised in Russia and abroad. The professor's research includes dialectology, syntax, colloquial speech, text issues, functional and stylistic differentiation, speech standards, the language of mass media, and the changes in language and speech.
Olga Sirotinina has supervised 58 candidate and 17 doctoral dissertations. Even now, she constantly helps her young colleagues. In research, the professor teaches them to move from facts to their generalisations, to look for an explanation for each new phenomenon and come to a theory, and not to adapt to it.
The great scholar has always remembered her mother's instruction. ‘We are the masters of our own destiny.’ Never give up, adapt to opportunities, and overcome impossibilities – these are the principles that Olga Sirotinina follows.
Every year, she publishes a dozen scientific papers. For almost three quarters of a century of work at Saratov University, the professor has become the author of more than 800 publications. Recently, under her editorship, there was published a collective monography titled The Effectiveness of Communication: The Impact of Communication Spheres on the Factors of its Achievements.
As a real researcher, Olga Sirotinina still observes the latest changes in the language, closely follows the media, and carefully studies every new phenomenon – the facts of the development of speech communication noticed by the professor are stored in several dozen notebooks. The example of her workaholism and creative longevity inspires numerous students and colleagues, candidates and doctors of sciences working at universities in Saratov, Yakutia, Kalmykia, Irkutsk, Volgograd, Astrakhan, and other Russian cities.
During 81 years of study and work at SSU, Olga Sirotinina has gone through a lot, but neither the predictions of doctors, nor the Great Patriotic War, nor the attacks of adherents of erroneous concepts could lead this strong-willed and confident person astray.
When talking to her, you can feel her sincere love for the language – “the main heritage of humankind” – and attention to its subtleties. Each of her interlocutors notes the clarity of thought and the phenomenal memory of the queen of linguistics. In March 2022, Olga Sirotinina spoke in detail about her research and the inextricable connection with Saratov University – the interview became the article of our Research City section.
The staff of Saratov University congratulates an amazing scholar, talented teacher, and ideological inspirer for many generations of linguists Olga Sirotinina on her 99th birthday and wishes new scientific discoveries, grateful students, high spirits, and good health.
