Larisa Leisiö

Larisa Leisiö is a Professor at the University of Eastern Finland's School of Humanities, specializing in Russian language with a focus on language contacts, Samoyedic languages, and non-standard varieties of Russian. Her research integrates typological and usage-based approaches, examining phenomena like code-switching, possessive noun phrases, and gender integration of Finnish loanwords in Russian. She has conducted extensive fieldwork across Siberia (Nganasans, Forest Enets, Nenets) and among European Russian-Finnish communities.

• Professor, University of Eastern Finland
• Research: Language contact, Samoyedic languages, Russian dialectology
• Fieldwork: Siberian indigenous communities, Finland Russians
• Publications: 15 most recent explore code-switching, language preservation, and morphosyntactic evolution

Her work addresses both theoretical linguistic issues and practical challenges, such as Ukrainian refugee integration and Russian academic activism against war. She contributes to projects like the Language Bridge Between Ukraine and Finland while maintaining a focus on endangered language revitalization through technology.