Ioanna Sitaridou

Professor Ioanna Sitaridou is Professor of Spanish and Historical Linguistics at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, where she also serves as Co-Director for the Cambridge Centre for Greek Studies. She is a Fellow, Tutor, and Director of Studies in Linguistics and Modern and Medieval Languages at Queens' College. Previously, she served as Head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese from 2019-2021 and is Co-Editor-in-Chief for the linguistics journal Glossa Contact.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Romance Linguistics from the University of Manchester (2002) under Nigel Vincent, an MA in Linguistics from University College London (1998), and a BA in French Philology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1997), with part of her studies completed at the University of Lisbon through the Erasmus scheme.

Sitaridou's research focuses on comparative and diachronic syntax of Romance languages, particularly 13th Century Spanish, dialectal Spanish, and dialectal Greek (especially Pontic Greek/Romeyka). She is renowned for her fieldwork on endangered languages including Romeyka in Turkey, where she documented this previously overlooked Greek variety, challenging established linguistic phylogenies. Her theoretical contributions advocate for a holistic approach to language contact without specialized contact theory, emphasizing the integration of syntactic theory, variation, acquisition, and sociolinguistics.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent focus on syntactic micro-variation in Greek and Romance varieties, particularly examining word order phenomena, null subjects, and contact-induced change. Her work often bridges theoretical syntax with sociolinguistic documentation, especially in endangered language contexts. The Romeyka research forms a significant thread, connecting diachronic syntax with language revitalization efforts.

• AHRC-funded research on Sri Lanka Afro-Portuguese
• Tübitak-sponsored project on Eastern Black Sea linguistic ecology
• CNRS-Inalco Paris fellowship
• Princeton, Harvard, and Oslo fellowships
• Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (awarded to supervisee)
• Extensive media coverage including BBC, The Guardian, Der Spiegel

Sitaridou has supervised over 15 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, including notable scholars now at Oxford, Padua, and Nicosia. Her fieldwork spans Turkey (17 years on Romeyka), Gibraltar (Llanito), Canary Islands (Spanish), and Sri Lanka (Afro-Portuguese). She has delivered over 250 international talks and actively promotes linguistic diversity and heritage language preservation, particularly for female speakers in remote areas.