Category
Topic
Year
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…
Vanill or vanilje?
Keywords: actual use, borrowings, corpus planning, fixed norm, linguistic standard
One way to interpret the contradiction between the linguistic standard or authoritative recommendation and the actual use in the case of vanill ‘vanilla’ and vanilje ‘vanilla’ is that the actual use has not allowed itself to be confused by the standards. It can be assumed, though, that without the fixed norm, vanilje would perhaps enjoy a still greater predominance over the receding vanill.
The case of vanill and vanilje is a good example of the fact that even a hundred years of dictionary recommendations may not be able to eliminate or…
One way to interpret the contradiction between the linguistic standard or authoritative recommendation and the actual use in the case of vanill ‘vanilla’ and vanilje ‘vanilla’ is that the actual use has not allowed itself to be confused by the standards. It can be assumed, though, that without the fixed norm, vanilje would perhaps enjoy a still greater predominance over the receding vanill.
The case of vanill and vanilje is a good example of the fact that even a hundred years of dictionary recommendations may not be able to eliminate or…
Information problems arising from location enquiries in Estonian emergency calls
Keywords: emergency calls, conversation analysis, location enquiries, information problems
This paper examines interactional problems arising from location formulations in Estonian emergency calls, focusing on call-takers’ questions and the caller’s answers to them. The goal of this paper is to identify the cause of interactional problems in emergency calls and to determine the party from whose action the problem arises. The analysis draws on corpus data consisting of Estonian emergency calls. For this article, 50 emergency calls containing 140 questions and answers about location were analysed.
Location is one of the three most important pieces of information in Estonian emergency calls. At the…
This paper examines interactional problems arising from location formulations in Estonian emergency calls, focusing on call-takers’ questions and the caller’s answers to them. The goal of this paper is to identify the cause of interactional problems in emergency calls and to determine the party from whose action the problem arises. The analysis draws on corpus data consisting of Estonian emergency calls. For this article, 50 emergency calls containing 140 questions and answers about location were analysed.
Location is one of the three most important pieces of information in Estonian emergency calls. At the…
Belonging – non-belonging
Keywords: belonging, non-belonging, identity, conviviality, autochthony, vernacular
The article introduces to Estonian readers selected terms and concepts that have been developed in recent decades to describe and make sense of daily experiences of living with difference in contemporary multicultural and -lingual societies. The focus is on the concept of belonging as theorised by Elspeth Probyn, Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias, among others; also discussed are autochthony and conviviality. The aim is to broaden the vocabulary and thus the ways of thinking about Estonia’s diverse population and about the different kinds of ties and experiences that bind individuals to Estonia. The idea…
The article introduces to Estonian readers selected terms and concepts that have been developed in recent decades to describe and make sense of daily experiences of living with difference in contemporary multicultural and -lingual societies. The focus is on the concept of belonging as theorised by Elspeth Probyn, Nira Yuval-Davis and Floya Anthias, among others; also discussed are autochthony and conviviality. The aim is to broaden the vocabulary and thus the ways of thinking about Estonia’s diverse population and about the different kinds of ties and experiences that bind individuals to Estonia. The idea…