Zorko initially taught at secondary schools in Ravne na Koroškem. From 1961, she worked at the Pedagogy Faculty of University of Maribor, after 1996 as a full professor of history and dialectology of Slovene. From 1986 to 1996, she also taught at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. The University of Maribor awarded her the title of Honorary Professor upon her retirement.
Zorko studied dialects and their social role, especially from Carinthia and Eastern Slovenia. In Carinthia, she devoted particular attention to the dialect in the works of Prežihov Voranc, specifically in his Jamnico, Samorastnike, and Solzice. Zorko dealt with multilingual intertwining primarily with German and Hungarian, and analyzed eastern Slovene dialects in comparison with standard Slovene. She was the author of several textbooks and a mentor to teachers in neighboring countries. In 1996 and 1999, she organized two international dialectological symposia.[3] In 2003, the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts elected her member extraordinary and in 2009, a full member.[4]
In 2013, she received the Zois Lifetime Achievement Award (Zoisova nagrada) for research on the phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary of the Carinthian, Styrian, and Pannonian dialect groups.[5]
2013, Zoisova nagrada (Zois Lifetime Achievement Award)
References
^Rojena v narečje: akademikinji prof. dr. Zinki Zorko ob 80-letnici, ur. Marko Jesenšek, Maribor: FF, 2016 (Zora 114), 721. At many places written as Leb. (in Slovenian)