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PROFESSOR RASTISLAV ŠUŠTARŠIČ  
(24 October 1953–2 March 2014)
Rastislav Šuštaršič, Professor of English language at the English Department, Faculty 
of Arts, University of Ljubljana, passed away in the early hours of the first Sunday in 
March 2014 after a short but severe illness. We lost a specialist in general phonetics 
and phonology, an expert in English pronunciation and prosody, respected colleague 
and very dear friend.
Rastislav Šuštaršič was born in Ljubljana, where he attended the elementary and 
secondary school as well as the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. In 1978 he 
graduated in English language and literature and French language and literature. Nine 
years afterwards he joined his former professors at the English department and contin-
ued his post-graduate studies in linguistics. In 1989 he defended his M.A. thesis enti-
tled Borrowing of English Dictionary Entries into Slovene – Phonological Adaptation. 
In 1993 he defended his doctoral dissertation, entitled Contrastive Analysis of English 
and Slovene Sentence Intonation, which was dedicated to the elusive phenomenon of 
prosody and was the first contrastive study of its kind in Slovenia. In 2006 he became 
a Professor of the English language.
The research work of Professor Šuštaršič was ground-breaking in the field of con-
trastive analysis of English and Slovene phonology and phonetics. In his doctoral dis-
sertation he tried the seemingly impossible and compared two prosodic systems which 
have little in common. In his later studies he preferred less elusive and more tangible 
topics, which included research in acoustic phonetics and general phonology. A large 
amount of his research was dedicated to finding the most efficient and effective ways 
of transmitting research findings in teaching practice. Years of intensive and varied re-
search culminated in his monograph entitled English-Slovene Contrastive Phonetic and 
Phonemic Analysis and Its Application in Teaching English Phonetics and Phonology. 
This is a meaningful and carefully written work which focuses on general, acoustic, 
perceptive and articulatory phonetics and phonology. Its added value is the application 
of theoretical and empirical findings to the teaching of English pronunciation at all 
levels of the education system.
As a teacher, Professor Šuštaršič was highly professional and exacting, yet was able 
to spice up his classes on English pronunciation with humour and wit. He often found 
examples whose pronunciation-based puns remained in the memory for a long time. He 
was very popular with his students due to his honest, impartial and fair attitude.
Rastko was a reliable and trust-worthy colleague, with a noble and deeply humane 
attitude to all. He was a caring advisor, who always tried to find the best possible solu-
tion to our problems and concerns. My close working relation with Rastko very soon 
developed into a sincere friendship. Although we both worked in the same field, we 
were not rivals. On the contrary, we studied together and shared experiences. Our co-
operation was pleasant, educational and creative.
Those who deserve to stay forever, depart too soon. Rastko was loved by his col-
leagues and admired by his students. We miss him at work and in free time. Those 
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of us who knew him well were enriched by him. Personally, I remain grateful to 
Rastko for his friendship and professional support, which lasted nearly a quarter of 
a century.
Smiljana Komar
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