Category
Topic
Year
Quantitative shift in linguistics – an old discussion revived
Keywords: quantitative methods, theoretical linguistics, formal linguistics, philosophy of science, scientific method
The new trend of incorporating a large amount of quantitative data into linguistic research has sparked a wave of scientific positivism, both among researchers as well as the public. In addition to the inevitable comparison and conflict between qualitative and quantitative methods it has raised questions about the relationship between data-based and what are commonly called theoretical approaches to language science, the former casting doubt on the validity of the latter. However, on a closer look it appears that the new forum, regarding itself as methodologically oriented, can sometimes…
The new trend of incorporating a large amount of quantitative data into linguistic research has sparked a wave of scientific positivism, both among researchers as well as the public. In addition to the inevitable comparison and conflict between qualitative and quantitative methods it has raised questions about the relationship between data-based and what are commonly called theoretical approaches to language science, the former casting doubt on the validity of the latter. However, on a closer look it appears that the new forum, regarding itself as methodologically oriented, can sometimes…
Place of statistics in a language model
Keywords: morphology, corpus linguistics, linguistic variation, text statistics
The article speculates on how quantitative data may fit into a theoretical model of language. It argues that the language model should include an idea about the generation procedure at play, albeit a speculative one. A concrete example shows how quantitative data form an integral part of a model of Estonian morphology, another concrete example shows how corpus-based statistical models may result in dubious statistical calculations, and two descriptions of old experiments in statistical learning show a potential path worth following in corpus linguistics in the future: one should pay more attention to…
The article speculates on how quantitative data may fit into a theoretical model of language. It argues that the language model should include an idea about the generation procedure at play, albeit a speculative one. A concrete example shows how quantitative data form an integral part of a model of Estonian morphology, another concrete example shows how corpus-based statistical models may result in dubious statistical calculations, and two descriptions of old experiments in statistical learning show a potential path worth following in corpus linguistics in the future: one should pay more attention to…
Doing numbers and Cognitive Linguistics
Keywords: corpus linguistics, forced choice task, logistic regression, Estonian
The paper gives a short overview of the recent trends in Cognitive Linguistics. It focuses on the methodological aspects involved and exemplifies how the performance of a corpus-based statistical model can be evaluated by comparing it against the behaviour of native speakers in a linguistic experiment. A mixed-effects logistic regression model is fitted to the corpus data of the Estonian adessive case and the adposition peal ‘on’ in present-day written Estonian. In order to evaluate the goodness of the corpus-based model, its performance is compared to the behaviour of native speakers in a forced…
The paper gives a short overview of the recent trends in Cognitive Linguistics. It focuses on the methodological aspects involved and exemplifies how the performance of a corpus-based statistical model can be evaluated by comparing it against the behaviour of native speakers in a linguistic experiment. A mixed-effects logistic regression model is fitted to the corpus data of the Estonian adessive case and the adposition peal ‘on’ in present-day written Estonian. In order to evaluate the goodness of the corpus-based model, its performance is compared to the behaviour of native speakers in a forced…
Estonian learner language development – how and why: addressing an interlanguage corpus
Keywords: communicative language competence, lexicogrammatical language competence, linguistic constructions, usage-based approach, complexity, precision, Estonian as a second language
The article addresses the development of lexicogrammatical competence in written Estonian (learnt as a second language) from the B1 to B2 CEFR levels. The research material consists of performances in the writing tasks of the state exams of Estonian as a second language and it comes from the Estonian Interlanguage Corpus (EVKK). The study is focused on constructions with the modal verb võima ‘can, may, be allowed’ and the conditional mood constructions, whose frequency in the B2 level increases significantly compared to the B1 level.…
The article addresses the development of lexicogrammatical competence in written Estonian (learnt as a second language) from the B1 to B2 CEFR levels. The research material consists of performances in the writing tasks of the state exams of Estonian as a second language and it comes from the Estonian Interlanguage Corpus (EVKK). The study is focused on constructions with the modal verb võima ‘can, may, be allowed’ and the conditional mood constructions, whose frequency in the B2 level increases significantly compared to the B1 level.…
List task and naming task as psycholinguistic methods
Keywords: research methods, empirical methods, data collection, semantics, colour terms, spatial relations
Both the list task (elicitation task or listing task) and the naming task are widely used in psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics and anthropological linguistics as well as in social sciences and clinical testing for Alzheimer’s Syndrome. Both methods are easily adaptable to linguistic and other phenomena, applicable without complicated research settings and effortless for researchers to use on research site. Due to the ease they can be used on large numbers of participants who agree to contribute their knowledge voluntarily. Empirical methods can give different results than introspection or corpus…
Both the list task (elicitation task or listing task) and the naming task are widely used in psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics and anthropological linguistics as well as in social sciences and clinical testing for Alzheimer’s Syndrome. Both methods are easily adaptable to linguistic and other phenomena, applicable without complicated research settings and effortless for researchers to use on research site. Due to the ease they can be used on large numbers of participants who agree to contribute their knowledge voluntarily. Empirical methods can give different results than introspection or corpus…
Corpus-based quantitative dialectology
Keywords: Estonian dialects, research methods, dialect corpus, variation studies
The article gives an overview of the directions and trends in dialectology with an emphasis on Estonian dialectology. We compare different methods and approaches for studying local language varieties: traditional dialectology based on the historical-comparative method, atlas-based dialectology, variation studies which stem from variationist sociolinguistics, and corpus-based approaches, which have been gaining momentum in recent years thanks to the compilation and development of the Estonian Dialect Corpus. In the article, we give an overview of the type of data and methods these approaches use. While traditional dialectology collected abundant qualitative data, which…
The article gives an overview of the directions and trends in dialectology with an emphasis on Estonian dialectology. We compare different methods and approaches for studying local language varieties: traditional dialectology based on the historical-comparative method, atlas-based dialectology, variation studies which stem from variationist sociolinguistics, and corpus-based approaches, which have been gaining momentum in recent years thanks to the compilation and development of the Estonian Dialect Corpus. In the article, we give an overview of the type of data and methods these approaches use. While traditional dialectology collected abundant qualitative data, which…
Theoretical linguistics and quantitative methods
Keywords: quantitative turn in linguistics, theoretical linguistics, different methods in linguistics
The article serves as a preface to the present collection of articles, which are based on conference papers on “Quantitative turn in linguistics – what about theory?”. It discusses why the question has arisen and how a multitude of linguistic theories may impact our understanding of methods. Some essential theoretical concepts and their backgrounds are explained. There follows a detailed description of two examples of how a concept born in the framework of a certain theory has spread, thus acquiring an important role in the choice of method. Finally, a…
The article serves as a preface to the present collection of articles, which are based on conference papers on “Quantitative turn in linguistics – what about theory?”. It discusses why the question has arisen and how a multitude of linguistic theories may impact our understanding of methods. Some essential theoretical concepts and their backgrounds are explained. There follows a detailed description of two examples of how a concept born in the framework of a certain theory has spread, thus acquiring an important role in the choice of method. Finally, a…
A look at first language acquisition
Keywords: linguistic development, language acquisition, linguistic theory, nativism, constructivism, usage-based theory, quantitative methods
This paper reviews some theoretical controversies in first language acquisition research, based on the traditional nativist–constructivist divide. The term ‘innateness’ is discussed, along with what constitutes a counterargument to nativism. Common empirical approaches are introduced, with an emphasis on how advances in quantitative methods have shaped the field: new data collection methods and growing analytical sophistication have allowed researchers to sharpen the questions asked and the framing of answers. Corpus analysis of both the input and child language has given the field a stable empirical base, complemented by…
This paper reviews some theoretical controversies in first language acquisition research, based on the traditional nativist–constructivist divide. The term ‘innateness’ is discussed, along with what constitutes a counterargument to nativism. Common empirical approaches are introduced, with an emphasis on how advances in quantitative methods have shaped the field: new data collection methods and growing analytical sophistication have allowed researchers to sharpen the questions asked and the framing of answers. Corpus analysis of both the input and child language has given the field a stable empirical base, complemented by…
The forms chosen for the expression of negation in the 17th- and 18th-century North Estonian texts
Keywords: old literary language, negation, variation, usage-based method
This article deals with the expression of clausal negation and its variation in the 17th– and 18th-century North Estonian ecclesiastical and didactical texts. The aim of this study is to find out which forms convey clausal negation, how their usage changes during the two centuries, and how large the extent of variation is in the scope of particle-like negation forms. The broader goal is to observe how the literary standard develops during that time.
This study is usage-based and explores 600 different negation clauses (300 tagged examples from either century). The negation forms were…
This article deals with the expression of clausal negation and its variation in the 17th– and 18th-century North Estonian ecclesiastical and didactical texts. The aim of this study is to find out which forms convey clausal negation, how their usage changes during the two centuries, and how large the extent of variation is in the scope of particle-like negation forms. The broader goal is to observe how the literary standard develops during that time.
This study is usage-based and explores 600 different negation clauses (300 tagged examples from either century). The negation forms were…
The changing meaning of the term ‘modernism’ in the Estonian literary space
Keywords: ideology of modernism, periodization, history of Estonian literature, ideology of style
Fredric Jameson has suggested in “A Singular Modernity” (2002) and elsewhere in his works that every interpretive act in culture includes in itself an act of periodization and implicit historical narratives are at work everywhere where a claim is made to assert the final meaning of a work of literature. The aim of this article is to take up Jameson’s challenge and reread various disputes over modernism in Estonian literature in the light of the periodizing function of the term modernism. This means reconstructing what has been considered modern…
Fredric Jameson has suggested in “A Singular Modernity” (2002) and elsewhere in his works that every interpretive act in culture includes in itself an act of periodization and implicit historical narratives are at work everywhere where a claim is made to assert the final meaning of a work of literature. The aim of this article is to take up Jameson’s challenge and reread various disputes over modernism in Estonian literature in the light of the periodizing function of the term modernism. This means reconstructing what has been considered modern…
The prologue of the ius primae noctis stereotype in Estonia
Keywords: Enlightenment, Johann Christoph Petri, Garlieb Helwig Merkel, Christian Hieronymus Justus Schlegel, August Wilhelm Hupel, Estonian peasants
The article was inspired by interest in how the stereotype of the right of the first night (ius primae noctis) arrived in Estonia. The first publication introducing the meaning of ius primae noctis to the Estonian reader is a translator’s footnote in the Estonian translation of the first part of “Ehstland und die Ehsten” by Johann Christoph Petri (1901). The translator was Adam Peterson, who had cut a figure in the Estonian society in the 1860s. It was certainly arbitrary of him to attach his commentary…
The article was inspired by interest in how the stereotype of the right of the first night (ius primae noctis) arrived in Estonia. The first publication introducing the meaning of ius primae noctis to the Estonian reader is a translator’s footnote in the Estonian translation of the first part of “Ehstland und die Ehsten” by Johann Christoph Petri (1901). The translator was Adam Peterson, who had cut a figure in the Estonian society in the 1860s. It was certainly arbitrary of him to attach his commentary…
roobas – a word describing the condition of ancient roads
Keywords: lexical history, Estonian language, Finnic languages
The aim of the article is to demonstrate that the Estonian word roobas ~ rööbas associates with a numerous family of descriptive words belonging to a common Finnic tradition, a family that owes its considerable growth to morphological and semantic derivation. It is indicated that the semantic difference, so far considered a practically insurmountable obstacle in the way to associating the Estonian examples with those occurring in the Northern Finnic group, is but superficial as proved by an analysis of the older and less transparent semantic layers of the word family. This analysis includes, inter alia, a description…
The aim of the article is to demonstrate that the Estonian word roobas ~ rööbas associates with a numerous family of descriptive words belonging to a common Finnic tradition, a family that owes its considerable growth to morphological and semantic derivation. It is indicated that the semantic difference, so far considered a practically insurmountable obstacle in the way to associating the Estonian examples with those occurring in the Northern Finnic group, is but superficial as proved by an analysis of the older and less transparent semantic layers of the word family. This analysis includes, inter alia, a description…
Hidden changes in the prosodic structure of Estonian
Keywords: moraic theory, consonant gradation, Estonian quantity, history of Estonian, tone accent, weight by position
The article discusses the phonological development of the Estonian language. Ilse Lehiste has claimed that Estonian is changing from a quantity language to an accent language. This undergoing change has never been explained theoretically. Based on Moraic Theory, several steps of the change can be distinguished. First, Estonian has deactivated a process that adds moras to syllable codas. As a result, even main-stressed CVC syllables may be monomoraic. According to phonetical measurements, this may be the situation right now, yet the data is somewhat ambiguous as…
The article discusses the phonological development of the Estonian language. Ilse Lehiste has claimed that Estonian is changing from a quantity language to an accent language. This undergoing change has never been explained theoretically. Based on Moraic Theory, several steps of the change can be distinguished. First, Estonian has deactivated a process that adds moras to syllable codas. As a result, even main-stressed CVC syllables may be monomoraic. According to phonetical measurements, this may be the situation right now, yet the data is somewhat ambiguous as…
Do women and men really translate differently?
Keywords: literary translation, gender, Buratino, female, male
Today the role of the translator’s gender is quite actively researched in linguistics as well as in translation studies. However, in Estonian theory and practice of translation this topic has not yet received enough attention. In the current article four Estonian translations of the story “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino” by A. Tolstoy are compared and analysed. Two of the translations (from 1946 and 1964) belong to female translators and two (from 1996 and 2016) to male translators.
Different researchers have suggested some characteristics that distinguish “female” translations from “male” ones:
(1) in…
Today the role of the translator’s gender is quite actively researched in linguistics as well as in translation studies. However, in Estonian theory and practice of translation this topic has not yet received enough attention. In the current article four Estonian translations of the story “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino” by A. Tolstoy are compared and analysed. Two of the translations (from 1946 and 1964) belong to female translators and two (from 1996 and 2016) to male translators.
Different researchers have suggested some characteristics that distinguish “female” translations from “male” ones:
(1) in…