Võro Institute

Throughout Estonian history, the language ideologies prevailing in Europe have had great influence on Estonian language planning. Language planners, in turn, have influenced the views of Estonian society. In this paper we analyse how language ideologies have supported myths and beliefs throughout the history of cultivating Standard Estonian. The privileged status of Standard Estonian (compared to local dialects) strengthened considerably from the early 20th century. Although Estonian language planning became more tolerant and democratic since the 1980s, a totalitarian understanding of the language still remains in the background. Using foreign words and the mixing of languages and registers is considered especially objectionable due to the ideology of a small nation, which has to defend itself and its language. In the 2020s, discussions about language change and the principles of language planning re-emerged. These have been interesting, because language planning wishes to make the “top-down” language norms of Standard Estonian closer to actual language use, while language maintenance experts still see any potential changes as a threat to the Estonian language and even the nation. Kokkuvõte. Liina Lindström, Lydia Risberg, Helen Plado: Keeleideoloogiad ja uskumused keele kohta Eestis ja eesti keelekorralduses. Euroopas valitsevad keeleideoloogiad on aja jooksul eesti keelekorraldusele suurt mõju avaldanud. Keelekorraldajad on omakorda mõjutanud eesti ühiskonnas valitsevaid arusaamu. Artiklis analüüsime, kuidas keeleideoloogiad on alates 19. sajandist toetanud müüte ja uskumusi eesti kirjakeele kohta. 20. sajandi algul tugevnes kirjakeele staatus (võrreldes kohalike murretega) järsku, samuti süvenes hoiak, et on olemas „õige“ ja „vale“ keel. Kuigi eesti keelekorraldus muutus alates 1980. aastatest leebemaks ja demokraatlikumaks, on taustal püsinud siiski totalitaarne arusaam keelest. Võõrsõnu ja keelte ning registrite segamist peetakse eriti halvaks ideoloogia tõttu eestlastest kui väikesest rahvast, kes on pidanud ja peab ennast ja oma keelt pidevalt kaitsma. 2020. aastatel järjekordselt esile kerkinud uued arutelud on huvitavad, sest keelekorraldus soovib norminguid hoida tegeliku keelekasutusega kooskõlas, kuid keeletoimetajad ja õpetajad näevad võimalikke muudatusi ohuna nii eesti keelele kui isegi rahvusele. Niisiis on pika aja jooksul levinud keeleideoloogiad eestlastes tugevalt juurdunud.

Estonian nicknames The article presents an overview of nicknames and secondary bynames used among Estonians. The material used has been collected by the authors; it originates from both north and south Estonia, and the informants range from schoolchildren to people in their 90s. The following reasons for the emergence of nicknames are highlighted: •     The need for differentiation, e.g. a father and son sharing the same name being called Suur Jaan (‘Big Jaan’) and Väike Jaan (‘Little Jaan’); •     Marking group affiliation, e.g. some of the oldest known nicknames in Estonia were collected from criminals and forest brothers in the 1930s and 1940s; •     Making reference to norms and value judgments, e.g. nicknames may be given to those who find themselves outside the circle of trust. The primary sources of nicknames are: •     Physical or personality traits, e.g. Skelett (a thin boy, ‘skeleton’), Rase (a man with a beer gut, from rase ‘pregnant’), Kõrvits (a short fat person, from kõrvits ‘pumpkin’), Brežnev (‘Brezhnev’, for thick eyebrows), Heelium (a boy with a thin, high voice, ‘helium’), Hiireke (a reserved, dull girl, from hiireke ‘little mouse’); •     Origin, occupation or profession, e.g. Kirsi-vanaema for a grandmother who lived on Kirsi street (vanaema ‘grandmother’) and Saku-vanaema for a grandmother who lived in Saku, Jahu-Juhan (the driver of a vehicle carrying animal feed, jahu ‘flour’), Muumia (a history teacher, muumia ‘mummy’); •     Family relationships, e.g. a man called his wife Tatjanatütar ‘Tatjana’s daughter’ on the basis of her mother’s name, or Viljar’s nickname of Sepa Ott from his grandfather’s name; •     Specific situations triggering associations with the source of the nickname, e.g. a man smoking Bond cigarettes became James, a boy who came to school with jam on his cheek became Moos ‘jam’; •     Series, e.g. a chemistry teacher called Mool ‘gram-molecule’ and her child Molekul ‘molecule’, a director called Uba ‘bean’ and his wife Hernes ‘pea’. A Winnie-the-Pooh inspired series of nicknames began on the basis of the physical appearance of two classmates, who became known as Puhh ‘Pooh’ and Notsu ‘Piglet’; Tiiger ‘Tigger’ chose her own name, and they were later joined by Christopher Robin, Iiah ‘Eeyore’ and Mesilinnuke ‘Bee’.  Secondary bynames are derived from a person’s formal given name or surname. The primary ways of forming nicknames from names in Estonian are the following: •     shortening, e.g. given names Eliisabet > Bett, Sulev > Sull, surname Bogdanov > Boka; •     Derivation, using a number of affixes typical of nicknames, many of which are used in slang words. The most common affixes in Estonian nicknames are -ts, -ks, -s, -kas, -ka, -u and -i, e.g. Raivo > Raits, Tiiu > Tiuks, Lemme > Lemps, Grethel > Grets, Hille > Hillekas, Jüri > Jürka, Endel > Endu, Emilie > Emmi. The same affixes are used for both genders. •     compounding, e.g. Marju Lauristin > Marjustin; •     translation, e.g. Saar > Island or Kurz (meaning ‘short’ in German); •     Nicknames formed from letters contained in the name, e.g. Enno Hani > N-O-H [enn-oo-haa] ‘chemical compound N-OH’.  Nicknames can be neutral in tone, can express endearment, or can be pejorative. As regards usage, the article discusses both individual and collective nicknames, the public or hidden nature of their use, the range of people who use them, and their age and geographical spread. Nicknames are an understudied area in Estonian and there are many opportunities for further exploration of the topic.

Kõik loomulikud kohanimed on sünnihetkel nime andva väikse kogukonna jaoks motiveeritud. Artiklis on tutvustatud nimeandmispõhimõtteid – millised on kohanimede tekkemotiivide kõige tavalisemad võimalused. Kohanimedes esinevate loomanimetuste puhul saab ilmekalt näidata, kuidas nime leksikaalse koostise mõistmine üksinda ei aita veel mõista, millisest situatsioonist on kohanimi alguse saanud või miks ühel konkreetsel kohal on just seda loomanimetust sisaldav nimi. Sissejuhatavalt peatutakse kohanimede leksikaalsemantilisel ja tekkesemantilisel läbipaistvusel. Nimeandmispõhimõtteid on artiklis klassifitseeritud loomanimetuste leksikaalse kategooriaga kõige paremini kokku sobival moel: 1) sündmus; 2) looma tüüpiline esinemine kohas; 3) nimes väljenduv metafoor; 4) tüüpilise esinemise või metafoori alusel tekkinud liitsõna; 5) kohaga on seotud inimene, kelle nimi pärineb loomanimetusest; 6) olemasoleva kohanime varieerimine. Artiklis on juttu ka otsesest ja kaudsest nimeandmisest. Otsesel nimeandmisel luuakse nime ja koha vahele otsene tähendussuhe. Kaudsel nimeandmisel saab koht nime tekkivate assotsiatsioonide põhjal, mis esinevad selgelt piiritlemata kompleksina.Animal and bird names in place names and emergent naming principles. All naturally formed place names are motivated by the small naming community at the moment of their birth. The article introduces some principles of naming, offering an insight into the most common motives and patterns of place name formation. Animal names occurring in place names exemplify how understanding a name’s lexical content is not enough to understand which situation has motivated this particular place name, nor why a certain place has a name containing that particular animal name. In the introduction, the lexical-semantic and syntactic-semantic transparency of place names are discussed. The naming principles in the article have been classified to most closely fit the lexical categories of the animal names. Those naming principles are: 1) event; 2) animal’s typical occurrence at the place; 3) metaphor expressed in the name; 4) compound word based on typical occurrence or metaphor; 5) person whose name comes from an animal name and who has some connection to the place; 6) variation of the existing place name. The article also discusses direct and indirect naming. When a name is given directly, a direct semantic link is created between the name and the place. In the case of indirect naming, the naming is based on associations occurring as a clearly undefined complex.