Category
Topic
Year
The playground for Estonian in the early modern times
Keywords: language history, literary language, sublanguages
The article discusses the uses and opportunities of the Estonian language in the early modern times, focusing on the 17th and early 18th century. In the 18th century the Estonian territory was subjected to violent Christianisation by conquerors whose native language was German. The local elite was formed of native speakers of German (and in the 17th century, when the area was part of the Swedish Kingdom) also of native speakers of Swedish. The bearers of the traditional Estonian culture fell into the lowest social stratum. For centuries following the Reformation the Estonian literary language…
The article discusses the uses and opportunities of the Estonian language in the early modern times, focusing on the 17th and early 18th century. In the 18th century the Estonian territory was subjected to violent Christianisation by conquerors whose native language was German. The local elite was formed of native speakers of German (and in the 17th century, when the area was part of the Swedish Kingdom) also of native speakers of Swedish. The bearers of the traditional Estonian culture fell into the lowest social stratum. For centuries following the Reformation the Estonian literary language…
Language and history
Keywords: language of history, Estonian terminology, cultural translation
This essay aims to discuss some aspects of the language used in the study of history. Similarly to other disciplines, historical research makes use of a specialized language. Writing about the past requires a distinctive style and specific genres. Widespread arguments identify historical writing with the narrative form, and thus attempt to equate historical text with literary artifact (White 1992). This general opinion, however, overlooks the specific features of historical texts, such as lexical and grammatical structures, inherent vocabulary, and academic conventions. The common language of history has points of contact with neighbouring…
This essay aims to discuss some aspects of the language used in the study of history. Similarly to other disciplines, historical research makes use of a specialized language. Writing about the past requires a distinctive style and specific genres. Widespread arguments identify historical writing with the narrative form, and thus attempt to equate historical text with literary artifact (White 1992). This general opinion, however, overlooks the specific features of historical texts, such as lexical and grammatical structures, inherent vocabulary, and academic conventions. The common language of history has points of contact with neighbouring…
Glocal Estonia?
Keywords: Baltic provinces, nation-building, Russian empire, glocality, transnational history, historiography
This article seeks to understand what a “glocal” approach to local history might add to the story of Estonia’s past. One of the aims in introducing the concept glocal into the social sciences and later also the humanities was to re-assess the duality of global and local processes which are seen as mutually constituent concepts (Victor Roudometof). In other words, a glocal approach deals with tendencies toward homogeneity and centralization that appear alongside tendencies toward heterogeneity and decentralization. As indicated in the article, this parallelism of directions can be observed in…
This article seeks to understand what a “glocal” approach to local history might add to the story of Estonia’s past. One of the aims in introducing the concept glocal into the social sciences and later also the humanities was to re-assess the duality of global and local processes which are seen as mutually constituent concepts (Victor Roudometof). In other words, a glocal approach deals with tendencies toward homogeneity and centralization that appear alongside tendencies toward heterogeneity and decentralization. As indicated in the article, this parallelism of directions can be observed in…
Who or what was Jörru?
Keywords: lexical history, etymology, language contacts, Low German loanwords, C. Kelch, J. G. Herder, old written Estonian, Estonian folk song
In 1695 Christian Kelch, the then pastor of Järva-Jaani, published his chronicle “Liefländische Historia”, which also contained an Estonian folk song titled “Jörru, jörru”, with German translation. This was the first Estonian folk song to appear in print; owing to Johann Gottfried von Herder it became known even more widely. Despite repeated analysis of the text, the meaning of jörru has remained a mystery to this day. In Herder’s “Volkslieder” there is a note explainig Jörru as the male name Georg. This interpretation has…
In 1695 Christian Kelch, the then pastor of Järva-Jaani, published his chronicle “Liefländische Historia”, which also contained an Estonian folk song titled “Jörru, jörru”, with German translation. This was the first Estonian folk song to appear in print; owing to Johann Gottfried von Herder it became known even more widely. Despite repeated analysis of the text, the meaning of jörru has remained a mystery to this day. In Herder’s “Volkslieder” there is a note explainig Jörru as the male name Georg. This interpretation has…
Conceptual metaphors of time in Estonian
Keywords: time expressions, conceptual metaphors, Estonian
The article explores how time is referred to in Estonian. More specifically, being based on the theory of conceptual metaphors (Lakoff, Johnson 1980) the study is focused on which conceptual metaphors are used when speaking of time (aeg) in Estonian. Previously some attention has been given to Estonian metaphors from space to time, but there is still no survey of time metaphors. The research data come from a random sample of a thousand sentences with the word aeg ‘time’, all drawn from the Balanced Corpus of Estonian. The corpus data are supplemented with a Sketch…
The article explores how time is referred to in Estonian. More specifically, being based on the theory of conceptual metaphors (Lakoff, Johnson 1980) the study is focused on which conceptual metaphors are used when speaking of time (aeg) in Estonian. Previously some attention has been given to Estonian metaphors from space to time, but there is still no survey of time metaphors. The research data come from a random sample of a thousand sentences with the word aeg ‘time’, all drawn from the Balanced Corpus of Estonian. The corpus data are supplemented with a Sketch…
How to read a blurb?
Keywords: blurb, techniques of influence, structure, genre, genre analysis, fiction
When a book enters the market, its first task is to attract the reader’s attention immediately, taking effect in but a few moments. Therefore publishers usually attach special attention to cover texts. From the publisher’s point of view, the blurb is part of marketing – it works like consumer advertising, which lures the reader’s eye and gives the necessary confidence to make a decision. This is why any paper book can be seen as a luxury item requiring sophisticated advertising techniques, including attention given to the blurb content as a special…
When a book enters the market, its first task is to attract the reader’s attention immediately, taking effect in but a few moments. Therefore publishers usually attach special attention to cover texts. From the publisher’s point of view, the blurb is part of marketing – it works like consumer advertising, which lures the reader’s eye and gives the necessary confidence to make a decision. This is why any paper book can be seen as a luxury item requiring sophisticated advertising techniques, including attention given to the blurb content as a special…
Searching for Kungla
Keywords: folklore, Matthias Johann Eisen, Kalevipoeg, Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Friedrich Kuhlbars, Kungla, fairytale, mythology, runosong
The place name Kungla has become known in Estonia due to Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald’s (1803–1882) records of folklore and his own folklore-based works. In Kreutzwald’s writings it designates a mysterious ancient land of plenty or a place where people once used to live in peace and happiness. The toponym Kungla can be found in his records of folklore that he forwarded to A. H. Neus, in the epic Kalevipoeg that he created on the basis of runosongs and folktales, and in his literary fairy tales. The…
The place name Kungla has become known in Estonia due to Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald’s (1803–1882) records of folklore and his own folklore-based works. In Kreutzwald’s writings it designates a mysterious ancient land of plenty or a place where people once used to live in peace and happiness. The toponym Kungla can be found in his records of folklore that he forwarded to A. H. Neus, in the epic Kalevipoeg that he created on the basis of runosongs and folktales, and in his literary fairy tales. The…
Gender marked vocabulary on the example of Estonian sports news
Keywords: Estonian, corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, gender marking, feminist linguistics
Researchers in feminist linguistics have hypothesized that language use reflects gender relations and is involved in the reproduction of various gender stereotypes, which can be projected, for example, in lexical gender marking. In this article I looked at gender marked vocabulary that appeared in the sports news published from January to March 2020 in the Estonian web portals Delfi and ERR. My aim was to look at the frequencies of gender marked compounds and to find out which gender-specific compounds are used in the sports context. The results showed that…
Researchers in feminist linguistics have hypothesized that language use reflects gender relations and is involved in the reproduction of various gender stereotypes, which can be projected, for example, in lexical gender marking. In this article I looked at gender marked vocabulary that appeared in the sports news published from January to March 2020 in the Estonian web portals Delfi and ERR. My aim was to look at the frequencies of gender marked compounds and to find out which gender-specific compounds are used in the sports context. The results showed that…
Estonian Soviet encyclopedia
Keywords: Estonian Soviet Encyclopedia, Soviet ideology, knowledge creation, dialogue
The article examines the role of an encyclopedia and its transformation in Soviet society on the example of the Estonian Soviet encyclopedia (Eesti nõukogude entsüklopeedia, ENE). The focus is on three questions: In what contexts does ENE fit? How did the compilation of ENE begin and how did local aspirations and power ambitions take shape in that process? How did the ENE editorial board communicate with the future reader and what are the dialogue models emerging?
The compilation of ENE was a process revealing the ways of knowledge presentation characteristic of Khrushchev’s…
The article examines the role of an encyclopedia and its transformation in Soviet society on the example of the Estonian Soviet encyclopedia (Eesti nõukogude entsüklopeedia, ENE). The focus is on three questions: In what contexts does ENE fit? How did the compilation of ENE begin and how did local aspirations and power ambitions take shape in that process? How did the ENE editorial board communicate with the future reader and what are the dialogue models emerging?
The compilation of ENE was a process revealing the ways of knowledge presentation characteristic of Khrushchev’s…
Towards the democratic word!
Keywords: Estonian literature, transition period, 1990s, aesthetic democracy, literary norm, language politics
Peeter Sauter’s novel “Indigo” was at the time of its publication in 1990 intuitively perceived (the core example is given here by the literary critic Maimu Berg) as a profound analysis of an individual, of a certain era or some phenomenon. This article opens up on these intuitions, taking special interest in the third part – Sauter’s writing as a symptom of a certain phenomenon in literary discourse that was not yet clearly distinguishable at the time. That phenomenon was the rapid change in literature’s public position in the…
Peeter Sauter’s novel “Indigo” was at the time of its publication in 1990 intuitively perceived (the core example is given here by the literary critic Maimu Berg) as a profound analysis of an individual, of a certain era or some phenomenon. This article opens up on these intuitions, taking special interest in the third part – Sauter’s writing as a symptom of a certain phenomenon in literary discourse that was not yet clearly distinguishable at the time. That phenomenon was the rapid change in literature’s public position in the…