Olli Kuparinen

Olli Kuparinen is a Researcher at the University of Tampere, focusing on dialectology, computational linguistics, and speech recognition technology. His current Academy of Finland-funded project (2025-2030) aims to develop phoneme-based models that convert dialectal speech into text without erasing regional variations.

• Academic Path: Began with Finnish language studies at the University of Tampere, followed by teaching Finnish language/literature, then doctoral research (Kone Foundation-funded) on Helsinki spoken language changes (1970s-2010s).
• Previous Work: Spent 2 years at the University of Helsinki's Language Technology Department studying machine translation models.
• Key Contributions: Created datasets like Murreviikko (dialectal tweets), advanced phoneme-character mapping for Finno-Ugric scripts, and explored historical changes in Helsinki's spoken Finnish (e.g., hd-cluster diffusion).

Research Interests: Bridging traditional dialect studies with AI/ML, preserving linguistic diversity in speech recognition, and analyzing long-term language variation through computational models.

Recent Publications focus on automatic dialect transcription, normalization techniques, corpus-based dialectometry, and social media as a source for dialectal analysis. His work emphasizes inclusivity in AI by addressing underrepresented dialects.

Scientific Awards: No specific awards listed beyond Academy of Finland funding.

Future Directions include improving equity in speech tech by incorporating Finno-Ugric IPA translations, expanding to Norwegian dialects, and advocating for linguist involvement in AI model development.