Lotta Aunio

Lotta Aunio is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, specializing in Bantu languages. She holds a Docentship in African Studies and is affiliated with the Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ), Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), and the Teachers' Academy. She supervises doctoral programs in Gender, Culture and Society Studies, and Linguistics.

• PhD in Linguistics, University of Helsinki
• Docent in African Studies, University of Helsinki

Her research focuses on Bantu languages, particularly phonology, tonology, and language contact in Tanzanian and South African contexts. She has published extensively on Mara Bantu languages, isiNdebele phonology, and relative agreement cycles in Bantu.

Recent collaborations include the project Enhancing Linguistic Scholarship in Eastern Africa (2024–2025) and leadership in the Mara Bantu Comparative Grammar project (2016–2019). She actively participates in international conferences and media outreach, including podcasts and YouTube channels on language studies.

• Member of the Teachers' Academy (2013)

Aunio teaches Swahili, African studies, and linguistics courses. Her projects often involve fieldwork, historical analysis, and documenting endangered linguistic features.