Estonian Language
The Estonian language, a member of the Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric language family, is one of Europe’s oldest languages, with its roots tracing back to the eighth century CE. It is closely related to Finnish and has been influenced by German due to historical interactions. While it was primarily an oral language until the fifteenth century, the first known written works appeared in the sixteenth century, coinciding with the Protestant Reformation, which significantly shaped Estonian culture. Today, Estonian is spoken by approximately 1.1 million people, mainly in Estonia, with smaller communities in countries such as Russia, Finland, and the United States.
Estonian features a rich phonetic structure with nine vowels and a Latin-based alphabet, making it unique in its pronunciation and vowel usage. The language consists of two main dialects: Northern and Southern, along with 117 sub-dialects, which vary primarily by geographic region. In the twenty-first century, efforts have been made to standardize the language, enhancing its uniformity across printed materials and public documents. Estonian is not only a vital part of national identity but also continues to be actively taught and preserved among diaspora communities worldwide.
Estonian Language
The Estonian language is one of the oldest languages in Europe, dating from the eighth century CE. It was a primarily spoken language rather than a written one until the fifteenth century CE. In the twenty-first century, it is spoken by more than one million people.
History and Classification
Estonian is a Finnic language from the Finno-Ugric language family. It is closely related to Finnish and bears many German influences. The name Estonia comes from the Scandinavian word esti, a term used to describe the tribes living to the east of Scandinavia. The earliest known reference to the Estonian language is found in an eighth century geographical work that mentions the name of an Estonian island. Little else is known about Estonia until the thirteenth century, when a historical document written in Latin, Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae, recorded the clashes of German and Scandinavian Christian crusaders with the largely pagan Estonians.
The first known book published in Estonian dates from the early sixteenth century. Printed in the German town of Lubeck, the book was a religious work on Lutheranism. The oldest surviving work in Estonian is a catechism printed in 1535. The Protestant Reformation of 1517 helped spur the development of Estonian culture. Catholics who were opposed to the growing Reformation, attempted to create a Catholic intellectual center in the Estonian city of Tartu. The effort failed, but it gave the region a cultural boost that helped the language develop. The first periodical printed in Estonian was the weekly newspaper Luhlke Opetis, in 1766. An Estonian publication, Tartu Maarahva Nadalaleht, printed in 1806, was the world’s first publication devoted entirely to farming. As the nineteenth century progressed, Estonians would increasingly view their language with pride. The country had been part of the Russian Empire since the early eighteenth century, but citizens continued to speak and write in Estonian. The publication of newspapers, books, pamphlets and other documents in the native language was considered a sign of cultural strength. In the mid-nineteenth century, Estonia had one of the highest literacy rates in Europe.
Much of the reason for the language’s standing among Estonians came from the sense they "owned" their native tongue. It is not considered an easy language to learn. Most Russian government officials did not speak it, and it was distinct enough from Russian that they could not understand it. In the twenty-first century, the Estonian language has two dialects—Northern and Southern— and 117 sub-dialects. In the nineteenth century it had a greater number of subdivisions. Most of these divisions are based on geography. Many of its northern sub-dialects are heavily influenced by Swedish and Finnish, and some southern sub-dialects are often thought of as separate languages.
Estonian uses a Latin alphabet of twenty-three base characters, with five characters—c, q, w, x, and y—only used in personal names, place names, and foreign words. An additional four letters—f, š, z, and ž—are used in Estonian words with foreign origins. The language features nine vowels, a, e, i, o, u, ä, ö, ü, and õ. The vowel õ has a pronunciation unique to Estonian. Vowel sounds can be short, long, or overlong, with long and overlong sounds written with two successive vowels. For example, the word sada (one hundred) uses a short a sound. Saada (send) uses a long a. There is no written distinction between long and overlong vowel sounds. The difference comes in change of pitch or stress during pronunciation. Estonian words often use a string of vowels with very few consonants. For instance, the word õueala means "courtyard" or "outdoor area"; jäääär means "edge of the ice"; and kõueöö means "night thunderstorm."
Geographic Distribution and Modern Usage
Estonian is spoken by about 1.1 million people, primarily in Estonia, although the language is used by smaller groups in Russia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and the United States. The language is spoken by about 69 percent of the population, while close to 30 percent speaks Russian.
Estonia’s long history as an agricultural nation fueled a migration trend in the nineteenth century. Many Estonians left the country to seek land ownership elsewhere, particularly in Russia and North America. There was a second mass emigration during World War II (1939–45), and in the years afterwards. Many of these emigrants relocated to Germany and Russia. There was another wave of migration in the early 1990s after Estonia achieved its independence from the former Soviet Union. These transplanted Estonians have been very proactive in ensuring their native language is spoken in their new communities. In the twenty-first century, there are about 88,000 Estonian speakers in Russia, the United States, Sweden, and Canada—the nations with the largest number of Estonian emigrants. Many of these Estonian communities feature their own schools, newspapers, radio stations, and other small media outlets.
Outside of Estonia, the language is taught at about fifty schools in Russia, Sweden, Canada, and the United States. Colleges and universities in eighteen countries, including the United States, Germany, Canada, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden, offer courses in Estonian.
To help the nation’s push towards a more independent identity, the Estonian government began to standardize the language into a common form in the twenty-first century. As this shift occurred, the language became more uniform. Newspapers, other publications, and public documents began to adopt this common form of the language.
Bibliography
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Mert, Mari. "Estonian Language." Estonia. Welcome to Estonia, n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2015. <http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/culture-a-science/estonian-language.html>.
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