Main challenges faced by
Estonian as a Medium-Sized Language Community
in urban areas:
On the example of Tallinn and Ida-Virumaa
Anastassia Zabrodskaja
Tallinn University / University of Tartu, Estonia
30 September 2010, Barcelona
University of Barcelona
Estonian is a
Finno-Ugric
language spoken
by approximately
1 million people,
mostly in the
Republic of
Estonia.
Varieties of
Estonian:
70 000 – Võru
keel, Võro kiil
5000 – Setu keel,
Seto kiil’
2
Nationalities in Estonia based on census data (%)
Based on the census of 1989 – the last to be conducted during the
era of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic – the number of
nationalities represented in Estonia was 121.
• The biggest groups were Estonians (963 300); Russians
(474 800); Ukrainians (48 273) and Belarusians (27 700).
• The smallest groups were Romanians (88); Kyrgyz people
(81), Avars and Gagauzes (69) and Buryats (53).
3
Historical background
•
•
•
•
Being a part of the Russian Empire;
Independence 1918-1940;
Soviet occupation 1940-1941, 1944-1991;
Re-established independence in 1991;
– Estonian became the only official language. Russianspeaking settlers and their descendents had to master it.
• ‘Extrinsic’ linguistic minority: Russians
– The linguistic rights of local Russian-speakers are the challenge
currently faced by Estonia in balancing the needs of the majority
and minority populations. They are descendants of Soviet-time
newcomers in Estonia who considered this country as their own
territory.
– ‘transitional minority’ (Ehala 2008) – a notion of conditional
rights which means that the more Russian-speakers integrate into
4
Estonian society, the more rights they will get.
Comparison of population groups in 1989 and 2000
5
Soviet language policy
• Soviet language policy (monolingualism for
Russians, bilingualism and subsequent shift to
Russian for others);
• Overt and covert encouragement of migration
into the Baltic region;
• Linguistic assimilation into Russian of third
ethnicities.
• Strong national and linguistic identity prevented
the displacement of Estonian from higher
education and academia.
6
Present day Estonia
 A country with a population of 1.3 million people:
 Estonians - 67.9 %
Altogether about 430 000 people belong to various ethnic
groups other than Estonians:
Russians
25.7%
Latvians
0.17%
Ukrainians
2.1%
Poles
0.16%
Byelorussians
1.2%
Jews
0.15%
Finns
0.8%
Lithuanians
0.15%
Tatars
0.2%
Germans
0.14%
142 different nationalities and ethnic groups are represented
in Estonia according to the census of 2000.
7
How language situation differs?
• It is a post-colonial situation
• More and more Russian-speakers acquire Estonian:
 44 % of Russian-speakers claimed some knowledge of
Estonian in 2000; cf. 15 % in 1989.
• Given that many Estonians have some command of Russian,
code-switching was initially an out-group device (RussianEstonian communication) that is gradually becoming
internalized (Russian-Russian communication)
• Variation:
– regional (Tallinn – bilingual, North East – predominantly
Russian, the rest – predominantly Estonian);
– generational (younger people are more likely to know
Estonian);
– individual (self-identification, proficiency in Estonian,
conversational goals, social networking etc).
8
Number of inhabitants in major Estonian towns
based on 2000 census
9
Interethnic contacts
• Recent (2007) surveys have shown that everyday contacts with
other ethnic groups are minimal for two thirds of ethnic
Estonians and one third of Estonian Russians.
• Even in Tallinn, nearly half of the ethnic Estonian population
and over a third of the Estonian Russians report their contacts
with the other ethnic group to be either nonexistent or
minimal.
• While the frequency of communication with the other group is
somewhat higher among the younger age groups of Russian
language speaking residents of Tallinn, the percentage is
correspondingly lower among young ethnic Estonians.
10
In Table, just an illustration is given on language usage in four
communicative situations: family, friends, colleagues and services.
Columns marked by E indicate Estonians, R indicates Russianspeakers.
Region
Family
Friends
E
E
R
R
Colleagues
E
R
Services
E
R
Rural
94
42
73
24
71
18
70
14
areas
Major
90
55
54
28
50
24
55
13
towns
Tallinn
86
78
42
44
44
41
29
18
East
Estonian 59
93
18
86
10
82
6
79
towns
Table. Percentages of respondents using only and mainly their first 11
language in four domains
Only in
Estonian
Mainly in More in
Estonian Estonian
than in
Russian
1
2
Region
Rural
areas
Major
towns
Tallinn
East
Estonian
towns
3
Equally
in
Estonian
and
Russian
More in
Russian
than in
Estonian
4
5
Mainly in Only in In other
Russian
Russian language
6
Colleagues
7
8
Family
Friends
Services
E
R
E
R
E
R
E
R
94
42
73
24
71
18
70
14
90
55
54
28
50
24
55
13
86
78
42
44
44
41
29
18
59
93
18
86
10
82
6
7912
Regional variation: Tallinn – bilingual, North East –
predominantly Russian, the rest – predominantly Estonian
13
Language Legislation (from above)
The Constitution provides the basis for the language policy
in Estonia. It combines Estonian legal tradition from the
first period of independence with developments on the
international level.
Language issues are regulated by several articles of the
Constitution.
– Article 1 of the Language Law stipulates that the only official
language in Estonia is Estonian.
– Article 2 classifies all other languages as foreign.
– Moreover, the Language Law imposes mandatory use of the
Estonian language for employees at the state, municipal and
private institutions.
14
Language policy from below
• The discrepancy between the sometimes quite strict Estonian
language legislation and its gradual softening during the last 20
years.
– the accommodation for the usage of Russian in businesses and
offices is much larger than could be expected on the basis of
legislation.
– The deadlines for language requirements have been postponed
several times as a response to the silent resistance of the
Russian speaking community.
– Also, the Russian language school reform has been softened
significantly and several times postponed to accommodate to
the pace of integration of the Russian speaking community.
15
Language policy from below (cont.)
• Accommodating to Russian in the medicine, shops and services.
– Although there are no such requirements, all medical institutions
have the policy that the language of the patient is respected, thus
the Russian-speakers have medical service in Russian.
– The same applies for services and shops in areas where there is
significant number of Russians (Tallinn and Ida-Virumaa).
– Sometimes in interpersonal communications both interlocutors use
their own language, but understand the other, thus making a
working communication possible.
– There are cases where English is used if the communicators do not
understand each other language.
• Thus, it could be said that despite the uniform requirements in
language legislation, the speech communities have negotiated a
variety of practical language policies.
16
Language policy from below (cont.)
• The main conclusion is that the functional goal of the current
legislation is to create a multilingual Estonia and that the
legislative bias towards Estonian, so clear and visible in
1990ies, is gradually softening as the Russian community
integrates into the Estonian society and bilingualism is
emerging in this previously monolingual community.
• As the language learning patterns show, Russian is actively
learned by young Estonians, indicating that Estonia is opting
for a trilingual mode of operation (Estonian, Russian, and
English).
• Projecting this development to the future, it could be expected
that the official language policy would gradually become more
admitting to the usage of Russian, as Russians acquire better
knowledge of Estonian and the intergroup relations become 17
more relaxed.
Linguistic Landscape
Linguistic Landscape: “The language of public road
signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names,
commercial shop signs, and public signs on government
building combines to form the LL of a given territory,
region, or urban agglomeration”
(Landry & Bourhis 1997: 25)
18
LL regulation from above
In Estonia, language of public signage is regulated mainly by Estonian
Language Act (1995), Place Names Act (2003) and Advertising Act
(2008).
Place Names Act (2003) deals with place names, decreeing them to be in
Estonian and in the Estonian-Roman alphabet, whereas Estonian
Language Act (1995) and Advertising Act (2008) look at the language
of information.
Public signs, signposts, announcements, notices and advertisements
etc must be in Estonian whereas information in a regional variety
of Estonian or a foreign language translation may be added in a
less visible script (came into force in March 2007).
Thus, officially all street and other place names must be in Estonian only.
The Language Inspectorate has to ensure that the Language Act and
other legal acts regulating language use are actually observed. In case
19
of its non-observance fines can be issued.
Bilingual sign
Cf. with Language Act: “the Estonian language shall have precedence
‘atelier’
Sillamäe, March 2007
20
‘bottom-up’
‘porridge, rolled oats’
Sillamäe, Summer 2007
21
Narva, November 2008
Estonian non-target forms and orthography
Cf. Estonian mänguautomaadid ‘fruit machines’
Tallinn, Lasnamäe (Russian-speaking district), Summer 2009
22
Estonian non-target forms and orthography
Cf. Estonian kotid ‘bags’
Cf. Estonian katted ‘(soft) covers’
Narva, Summer 2009
23
Estonian non-target forms and orthography
Cf. Estonian alkohol ‘alcohol, spirits’
Sillamäe, Spring 2007
24
Estonian non-target forms and orthography
tomat
‘tomato’
Narva, November 2008
Sillamäe, Summer
2007
juuksur ‘hairdresser’
pannkook
‘pancake’
25
Narva, November 2008
Estonian non-target forms and orthography
juuksur - ‘hairdresser’
Tallinn, January 2009
26
Sillamäe, Summer 2007
Undecidable...
RUS лимон
EST sidrun
ENG lemon
Narva, November 2008
27
Bottom-up + street name sign
RUS РЕМОНТ
EST REMONT
‘renewal’
Kohtla-Järve, Winter 2008-2009
Street name sign
Kohtla-Järve, Winter 2008-2009
Increasing role of English in society and its
increasing impact on Estonian
• The influence of English is evident in law and
administration, economy, business and banking,
information and advertising.
• It has been the dominant and influential language
in information technology from the very beginning.
• Even entertainment is becoming increasingly
English-language in nature.
30
Increasing role of English in society and its
increasing impact on Estonian (cont.)
• Language use in banking is influenced by the fact that Estonian
banks are tied to foreign shareholders or have expanded their
activities into neighbouring countries.
– Since communication with foreign holders usually affects bank
managers (with management and supervisory boards usually working
in English), in the case of subsidiary banks operating in other
countries there are also employees who have to use e.g. English or
Russian to a relatively greater degree in addition to Estonian.
– Estonian banks have two working languages – Estonian and
English. In Estonia the working language is Estonian, but English is
used when communicating with the parent company or as an
international working language.
– The local websites of the banks are in three languages: Estonian,
Russian and English.
31
Poor Estonian language knowledge
• The state must ensure the following: everyone’s right to
receive instruction in Estonian; everyone’s right to address
state agencies, local governments and their officials in
Estonian and to receive responses in Estonian; and that the
official language of state agencies and local governments is
Estonian.
• It should be possible to use Estonian in every sphere of life
and in throughout Estonia. The actual situation is somewhat
different. There are regions in Estonia in which the inhabitants
are monolingual (Russian) who have no knowledge or
insufficient knowledge of Estonian.
• In 2005, between 63% and 72% of Estonian Russians under 30
years claimed to be able to communicate ‘well’ or ‘moderately
well’ in Estonian. These percentages compare with 38-41% for
32
those over thirty years and under sixty years.
Tallinn and Ida-Virumaa
• In the public sphere, Russian is often used in advertising and
in shop transactions.
• All major companies, banks, chain-stores, cell-phone
operators, and numerous municipalities issue information in
Russian and often have a Russian version of their websites.
• Flyers and information sheets have a Russian version and are
easily accessible.
• A working knowledge of Russian is considered an asset or is
even required in some companies in Tallinn. In the northeast,
the knowledge of Russian continuously remains crucial for
everyday communication.
33
Promoting Estonian and the development of
language teaching
• The 2008 Integration Foundation survey asked – “What
language should your children /grandchildren be able to
speak?” Estonians chose English (91%), Russian (70%),
German (27%) and Finish (20%). Russian speakers chose
English (85%), Estonian (84%), German (17%) and Finnish
(7%).
• Estonian is the official language of Estonia and has been an
official language of the EU since 1 May 2004. At the same
time, the number of speakers of Estonian and limited
knowledge of the language place it among the group of less
used languages with a small number of users, as a result of
which its reputation, teaching and use as a study language
require purposeful development.
34
Gràcies! Aitäh!
35
The sample
• 460 Russian-speakers
language environment proportion of Russian
speakers
Number of informants
Rural settlements
1–10%
10–20%
50
70
30–50%
50–80%
70
120
80–100%
150
Towns and
settlements
West-Tallinn
Harju county and
Lasnamäe
Towns of East-Viru
Results of the cluster analysis
• Cluster analysis is a statistical tool that groups
together respondents who have given similar
answers.
• Five clusters emerged in cluster analysis:
V
2.5…3.5
Medium
Low
(10%)
Stable
Low
Esteem
(28%)
-.31
-.15
Stable
Stable
Integrated Traditional
(22%)
(26%)
-.08
-.05
Discordant
(14%)
.10
Medium Low Vitality
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
male (49%; 1.16),
over 40 y.o. (54%; 1.10),
Estonian national (65%; 1.20),
higher education (26%; 1.86),
private sector employee (49% 1.63),
above average income (21%; 2.33),
lives in an Estonian dominant town or in
countryside (60%; 2.31).
Stable Low Esteem
•
•
•
•
•
over 60 y.o. (17%; 1.21),
retired (21%; 1.31),
stateless (28%; 1.27),
higher education (17%; 1.21),
slightly below average income (34%;
1.42),
• lives in East Estonia (46%; 1.31).
Stable Integrated
• under 40 y.o. (64%; 1.25),
• Estonian national (79%; 1.46),
• public sector employee (34%; 1.17) or
student (13%; 1.63),
• average income (68%; 1.26),
• lives in an Estonian dominant town or in
countryside (66%; 1.61).
Stable Traditional
•
•
•
•
40-60 y.o. (52%; 1.49),
Russian citizen (40%; 1.74),
below average income (43%; 1.16);
lives in East Estonia (50%; 1,43).
Discordant
• under 40 y.o. (70%; 1.37),
• stateless (33%; 1.50),
• significantly below average income (18%;
1.38),
• lives in East Estonia (45%; 1.29).