Terttu Nevalainen (1952)
Occupation: Professor philology
Nationality: Finnish
Why an honorary doctorate?
On 6 June 2025, Terttu Nevalainen received an honorary doctorate from the VUB for her groundbreaking work in historical sociolinguistics. She gave forgotten voices from the history of English a place and sparked a methodological revolution in linguistics. Her research into language change in social contexts inspires generations of scholars and closely aligns with the work of the Brussels Centre for Language Studies.
"Language change is never random; it reflects the choices and identities of real people in real communities"
About her career
Nevalainen studied English philology and general linguistics at the University of Helsinki and continued her studies at University College London. In 1991, she earned her PhD in Helsinki. She served as Academy Professor (2010–2014) and led the VARIENG National Centre of Excellence (2001–2011). As founder of the Corpus of Early English Correspondence (over 5 million words), she paved the way for large-scale historical corpus research. Her publications, including An Introduction to Early Modern English and Historical Sociolinguistics: Language Change in Tudor and Stuart England, are considered standard works in the field.
Recognition
She is a Fellow of the British Academy, a member of the Academy of Europe, and received the Gad Rausing Prize for outstanding humanistic research. In 2015, she was appointed Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
What is an honorary doctorate?
VUB has awarded honorary doctorates every year since 1978 to personalities from the most diverse backgrounds who have made a remarkable contribution to their field and to society. From this solemn moment of recognition, they bear the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of VUB.