Janez Orešnik got his BA in English and comparative Indo-European linguistics at the University of Ljubljana in 1958. He completed his Ph.D. in Germanic linguistics also at the University of Ljubljana in 1965. He conducted some of his pre-doctoral studies at the University of Copenhagen (1959–1961) and the University of Zagreb (1962–1963), and continued with post-doctoral research at the University of Reykjavik (1965–1966), and Harvard University (1969–1970).

From 1961 to 1989 he was employed at the department of Germanic languages and literatures and from 1989 at the Department of comparative and general linguistics at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana, where he served as department chair from 1990 to 2004. In 1983 he became full professor and in 1987 a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Initially, Janez Orešnik's research focus was on Germanic comparative linguistics, in particular on Icelandic morphophonology. He described several non-standard phenomena of Icelandic phonology, especially within the preterite subjunctive and the imperative. His main publication from this period is "Studies in the Phonology and Morphology of Icelandic" (1985). The volume got him the Slovenian Boris Kidrič Foundation Award for best scientific achievement in 1987.

Later focus of Janez Orešnik was on (Slovenian) syntax within multiple frameworks. His research was framed primarily within Naturalness Linguistics, developing the so-called Slovenian model of Natural Syntax. He published two volumes on this framework: A Predictable Aspect of (Morpho)syntactic Variants (Ljubljana: SAZU; 2001), and Naturalness in (Morpho)syntax: English Examples (Ljubljana: SAZU; 2004). But he also had extensive influence on the spread and advances of generative linguistics in Slovenia. He established the undergraduate program of general linguistics at the University of Ljubljana, at the center of which was the study of formal linguistics. His patronage of Slovenian generative syntax was expressed also through his festschift titled "Formal Studies in Slovenian Syntax. In honor of Janez Orešnik" (Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2016).

Janez Orešnik passed away at his home in Ljubljana on April 1, 2024

Linguistic Field(s): Discipline of Linguistics
General Linguistics

Subject Language(s): Icelandic (isl)
Slovenian (slv)