Many scholars who do research on foreign languages start their careers by concentrating on issues which they find difficult. So did I; although, I did not address Russian verb aspects, as many of my colleagues have done. Instead, my doctoral dissertation concerned the stress patterns of Russian nouns, which are a big challenge for non-native speakers learning Russian.

Traditional grammar books comprise chapters based on grammatical categories, such as “Nouns,” “Verbs,” and “Subordinate clauses.” Such an approach follows the principle “from form to meaning.” During the last 25 years, I have been working on an alternative model of description, which I call Functional syntax. It is based on the reverse principle, “from meaning to form,” which reflects the position of the speaker. Such a linguistic description answers the question “Which structures are used for expressing action, emotional state, request, negation, quantity etc. in language x?”

Today, a popular topic in discussion on research methodology is the usage of big data. Large text collections, called corpora, have totally changed the way research is carried out in linguistics. Language production is now available to researchers in electronic format. Although corpora cover only a tiny part of total language usage, they enable much more thorough analyses of language than was earlier possible. At the University of Helsinki, Integrum, a unique Russian database of 50 billion words has been utilised on a large scale.

Although people often speak of a language as if it were a monolithic unit, in reality any language has a great number of states of existence. Even for a native speaker, it is impossible to completely master all the variety a language can provide. A further question is whether it is reasonable to speak of different national varieties of Russian as we speak of different Englishes.

Тhe most serious problem in the world is that people do not understand each other. Failures in communication take place in various circumstances and conditions: at home, at work, between social and ethnic classes, between religions and nations. They can lead both to small complications or troubles in our everyday life and to large-scale conflicts between societal groups and cultures. The significance of the problem was the reason I decided to do my bit in studying the causes of miscommunication.

As to theories and methods, linguistics is a very diverse research field. Even the very essence of language has several interpretations. For some linguists language is the grammatical competence people acquire during their first years of life, for others its main state of existence is language usage, people’s linguistic production, with its great variety and diversity. I have tried to resolve this dilemma for myself and on that basis justify the methods I use in research.

In recent years, I have paid more and more attention to the question of Russian mentality. Here again there have been practical incentives. I have often been asked to give lectures to various audiences on the topic “Can one understand Russians?” or “How do the Russians differ from the Finns?” Another reason for deeper understanding of the Russian mind is the strained political relations between Russia and the West.

My Russian colleagues keep asking me why I have chosen Russian, expecting an answer like “Because I admire Pushkin’s poetry.” They are astonished when I tell them the real reason. I went to school in a region of Central Western Finland where nobody spoke Russian and practically everyone hated Russians…

The process of compiling a book on research ethics with Henriikka Clarkeburn was for me a real ‘learning by doing’ experience. We are now continuing our cooperation by writing a similar textbook in English.

In the early years of my academic career, I was very critical of university leaders and the administration. Then I realised that it was too easy to shout from the sidelines when you were unwilling to bear responsibility for common affairs yourself. Gradually I was elected and selected to various academic positions. All these duties and obligations have given me a real opportunity to influence Finnish research and university politics.