Dr. Vera Tsukanova

Curriculum Vitae

Graduated in 2001 from the Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow) with the specialization in Theoretical Linguistics and the Arabic language. In years 1999-2000 obtained a scholarship from the University of Kuwait to study Arabic as a foreign language at the Language center. Her final paper was dedicated to the phonology and morphology of the Arabic dialect of Kuwait.

Before coming to Marburg Vera Tsukanova was employed as interpreter at the Embassy of Kuwait in Moscow, computer linguist and lecturer at several Universities in Moscow. There she taught the Arabic Language, Arabic Dialectology, Syrian Arabic, Theoretical Grammar and History of the Arabic Language, as well as Readings in Arabic Literature. In addition to teaching, she was a part of the research group, whose work culminated in the monograph "Dream narratives: Corpus Study of Russian Oral Discourse", and conducted research on the discourse functions of the verb forms in the Kuwaiti dialect of Arabic.

Employed as a research associate at the Department of Semitic Studies of the Marburg University since October 2016. Member of the editorial team of the open-access journal “Middle East – Topics and Arguments” in 2017–2020, editor of Issue 13 entitled “Contacts”. Member of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft since 2018 and founding member of the project Halqa arabiyya.

In June 2023, Vera Tsukanova defended a doctoral dissertation "The evolution of the derivational verbal system in Arabic" under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Weninger. Her postdoctoral research is devoted to Semitic languages of the Arabian peninsula.

Research

Monograph

The evolution of the derivational verbal system in Arabic. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 139. XVI + 303 pages. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2025.

Edited volumes

1. Nils P. Heeßel, Vera Tsukanova, Michael Waltisberg (eds.). 2024. Der Perlentaucher. Festschrift für Stefan Weninger zu seinem 65. Geburtstag am 6. August 2024. 470 Seiten. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Published 2024-07-26.
2. Evgeniya Prusskaya, Vera Tsukanova (eds.) 2019. Middle East – Topics and Arguments, Volume 13, “Contacts”. (https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0003/issue/view/235). Published 2019-12-22.

Papers

1. Hurrian and Ugaritic sibilants: Essay of phonetic interpretation. (Co-authored with Ilya Yakubovich). Journal of Language Relationship 23/3–4, 2025: pp. 276–303.
2. Каузативы в арабском языке: развитие деривационной семантики в диахронической перспективе. [Causatives in Arabic: The development of the derivational meanings in diachronic perspective]. Коротаев Н. А., Сумбатова Н. Р. (ред.). Состав науки: Сборник статей к юбилею Веры Исааковны Подлесской. М.: Буки Веди, 2024, стр. 182–198.
3. Социолингвистические факторы развития общих грамматических черт в арабских диалектах Магриба. [Sociolinguistic factors in the development of common grammatical features in the Arabic dialects of the Maghreb]. Проблемы общей и востоковедной лингвистики. Исследования языков Азии и Африки: традиции и перспективы: сб. ст. / отв. ред. А.С. Зверев, ред.-сост. С.Д. Малышева; Ин-т востоковедения РАН – М.: ИВ РАН, 2023, стр. 106–116.
4. German pioneers of studying the languages of Oman. Journal of Oman Studies 23, 2022: pp. 1-13.
5. К происхождению показателя возвратных пород al в западносуданской группе диалектов арабского языка [Notes on the etymology of the reflexive prefix al- in West-Sudanic Arabic]. Кибрик А. А., Семёнова К. П., Сичинава Д. В., Татевосов С. Г., Урманчиева А. Ю. (ред.) Вапросы языкознания: мегасборник наностатей. Сборник статей к юбилею –В. А. Плунгяна. М.: Буки Веди, 2020, стр. 568–573.
6. Arabic as a scholarly language? Pitfalls of multilingualism in scholarship. (Co-authored with Michael Waltisberg). Middle East – Topics and Arguments, Volume 13, “Contacts”: pp. 30–36 (https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0003/article/view/8094).
7. Contacts in the MENA region: a brief introduction. (Co-authored with Evgeniya Prusskaya). Middle East – Topics and Arguments, Volume 13, “Contacts”: pp. 5–11. (https://doi.org/10.17192/meta.2019.13.8245).
8. First author of the chapters “Fragmentation of Coordinated NPs”, “Serialization”, “Reduplication” in the collective monograph “Rasskazy o snovidenijakh. Korpusnoe issledovanie ustnogo russkogo diskursa (= Night Dream Stories: A corpus study of spoken Russian discourse)” A.A. Kibrik, V.I. Podlesskaya (eds.). Moscow, 2009.
9. Лексика боли в арабском языке. [Pain predicates in the Arabic language]. (В соавторстве с Ю.В. Лукиной). В.М. Брицын, Е.В. Рахилина, Т.И. Резникова, Г.М. Яворская (ред.) Концепт боль в типологическом освещении. Киев: Видавничий дім Дмитра Бураго, 2009, стр. 314 – 328.  
10. Арабский язык [The Arabic language]. (В соавторстве с Н.С. Ландо.) Энциклопедия для детей. Том 38. Языки мира. Мир энциклопедий Аванта +. М., 2009, стр. 237–252. 
11. Базовый порядок слов и топикализация в арабском языке. [Basic word order and topicalization in Arabic]. Казанский Н.Н. (ред.) Исследования по типологии и грамматике. Материалы Пятой Конференции по типологии и грамматике для молодых исследователей (6–8 ноября 2008 г.). Acta linguistica Petropolitana. Труды ИЛИ РАН. Т. 4 Ч. 2., стр. 189–193. СПб.: Наука, 2008.
12. Discourse functions of the verb in the dialect of sedentary Kuwaitis. In Prochazka S., V. Ritt-Benmimoun (eds.) Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Studies on Contemporary Arabic Dialects. Proceedings of the 7th AIDA Conference, held in Vienna from 5-9 September 2006, pp.  447–455. Wien 2008. Institut für Orientalistik der Universität Wein.
13. Соотношение дискурсивных и видовременных значений глагольных форм: корпусное исследование кувейтских нарративов. [Correlation of discourse and tense-and-aspect functions of the verb forms: the corpus-based research of the Kuwaiti narratives]. Исследования по теории грамматики, вып. 4.. M.: Гнозис, 2008, стр. 241 – 257. 
14. Принципы разметки сочиненных именных групп в дискурсивно-ориентированной транскрипции. [Principles of marking NP coordination in discourse transcription (based on Russian and Kuwaiti oral narratives)]. Научно-техническая информация, N 2, 2007, стр. 24-29.  
15. Опыт применения методов дискурсивно ориентированной транскрипции к материалу неиндоевропейского языка. [Essay on applying the methods of the discourse transcription to the data of a non-Indo-European language]. Материалы научной конференции «Диалог-2006», М., 2006, стр. 552–560.   
16. Кувейтские нарративы: особенности поведения глагола. [Kuwaiti narratives: functions of the verbal forms]. Четвертая международная типологическая школа по лингвистической типологии и антропологии. Материалы лекций и семинаров, М., 2005, стр. 351–353.  
17. Корпус устных детских рассказов о сновидениях и функциональные особенности бытового рассказа. [Corpus of oral children’s dream stories and functional features of an oral narrative]. (В соавторстве с A.A. Кибриком, В.И. Подлесской, Н.А. Коротаевым, А.О. Литвиненко, В.Г. Хуршудян.) Материалы международной конференции «Функциональные стили звучащей речи», М., 2005, стр. 60–63.  
18. Рефлексы заднеязычных смычных в кувейтском диалекте арабского языка. [Reflexes of velar obstruents in the Kuwaiti dialect of Arabic]. Материалы конференции «Школа молодого востоковеда», СПб., 2004, стр. 55–56.

Book Reviews

1. Shachmon, Ori: Tēmōnit. The Jewish Varieties of Yemeni Arabic. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2022 (= Semitica Viva 62). Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 2024; 119(6): 356–357.
2. Castagna, Giuliano / Edzard, Lutz (Hg.): South Arabia: Old Issues, New Perspectives. Proceedings of the Workshop at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg on December 19, 2019. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2022. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 2024; 119(3): 30–32. 
3. Holes, Clive (ed.). Arabic Historical Dialectology. Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Approaches. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 2023; 118(2): 106–109.
4. Bruweleit, Stefan: Aspect, Tense and Action in the Arabic Dialect of Beirut. Leiden/Boston: Brill 2015. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 2018; 113(6): 473–476.
5. Aldoukhi, Rima / Procházka, Stephan / Telič, Anna: Lehrbuch des Syrisch-Arabischen 1. Praxisnaher Einstieg in den Dialekt von Damaskus. 2. Auflage. Unter Mitarbeit von Narine Grigoryan. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2016. & Aldoukhi, Rima / Procházka, Stephan / Telič, Anna: Lehrbuch des Syrisch-Arabischen 2. Damaszenisch für Fortgeschrittene. Unter Mitarbeit von Narine Grigoryan. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2014. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 2018; 113(4–5): 357–358.

Conference Talks

1.  “Rendering of Iranian consonants through emphatics in Classical Arabic writing”. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 35. Deutscher Orientalistentag, 08-12.09.2025."
2. “What Can Modern Arabic Dialects Reveal About the Etymology of the L-Stems in Semitic?”. Rethinking Proto-Semitic - Approaches and Methodology. Marburg University, 02-03.04.2025.
3. “Vorstellungen des Paradieses im Judentum und Islam durch das Prisma der althebräischen und arabischen Sprachen”. Vortragsreihe Antike Gärten zwischen Muße und Macht des Marburger Centrums Antike Welt. Marburg, Germany, 18.11.2024.
4. “Development of the t-morphemes in the history of Arabic”. Workshop on the Afroasiatic Middle t-Morpheme. Edinburgh, UK. 8-9.05.2024.
5. “The evolution of Semitic sibilants in Phoenician” (together with I. Yakubovich). Neue Forschungen zu den semitischen Sprachen und Literaturen: 8. Arbeitstreffen der Sektion Semitistik in der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. Universität Leipzig, 10.04. – 12.04.2024.
6. “Spread of the niktib – niktibu paradigm in African Arabic dialects: A framework for the analysis”. 34. Deutscher Orientalistentag. 12.-17.09.2022. Freie Universität Berlin.
7. “Non-trivial meanings of derived verbal stems in the dialects of Arabic: a typological survey”. 14th International Conference of the “Association Internationale de la Dialectologie Arabe”. Granada, Spain. 28.06.–01.07.2022.
8. “A typological approach to derived verb stems in Arabic”. Workshop “Semantics of Grammatical Markers in Semitic Languages and Approaches to Its Description”. Freie Universität Berlin, 13–14.02.2020.
9. “Verbal stem formation in Arabic dialects and Modern Standard Arabic, based on the lexical statistics”. 13th International Conference of the “Association Internationale de la Dialectologie Arabe”. Kutaisi, Georgia. 10–13.06.2019.
10. “Four-consonantal verbs in Arabic dialects: At the frontier between lexicology and derivation”. 7. Arbeitstagung der Sektion Semitistik innerhalb der DMG. Universität Wien. 27.02–01.03.2019.
11. “Partial restructuring in West-Sudanic Arabic”. The 9th World Congress of African Linguistics. Faculty of letters and Human Sciences, Rabat, Morocco. 25–28.08.2018.
12. „Verbalstämme in den arabischen Dialekten“. CNMS-Kolloquium der Philipps-Universität Marburg, 21.02.2018.
13. “The Origins of the Causative S-Stem in Hassaniya Arabic”. 33. Deutscher Orientalistentag „Asien, Afrika und Europa“. Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 18.–22. September 2017.
14. “Discourse Functions of the Verb in the Dialect of Sedentary Kuwaitis”. 7th international conference of the “Association Internationale de la Dialectologie Arabe”, Vienna, Austria, 2006.

Teaching 

Comparative Semitics
Readings in Classical Arabic
Arabic Manuscripts
Arabic Dialectology
Syriac language
Palmyrene Aramaic
Phoenician-Punic language
Languages of Oman

See also

Why do I work and study at the Department of the Semitic Studies in Marburg? (In German)