Estonian

The Estonian is a Langue pertaining to the connects fennic of the family of the Langues ouraliennes. It is narrowly related with the Finnois, and in a remote way with the Hungarian. He is spoken by approximately 1  100  000 people, of which the very great majority (950  000) live in Estonia.

Characteristics of the language

Phonology, alphabet, pronunciation

On the phonological level, the Estonian is characterized in particular by the existence of three durations vocalic S and consonant: the majority of the Phonème S can be short, long or surlongs. This presentation of the facts nevertheless was called in question in the years 1990. Rather than to describe the duration of the phonemes, of many linguists prefer today to describe the three syllabic “durations” (even of the groups of two syllables) and reduce the traditional ternary system to a fitment of two binary oppositions: the syllables accent uées can be short or long and the long syllables can carry a strong or or weak “accent”, the term of “accent” indicating a whole of prosodic features here primarily including/understanding articulatory energy, the intonative curve and the relative length of the stressed syllable and the following syllable.

The tonic accent is on the first syllable of the words, except in the relatively recent loanwords, where it was often maintained in the place that it had in the source language.

The Estonian Alphabet is the Latin alphabet increased few signs diacritic S: ä , ö , U returns to phonemes similar to those of these German C-Ws communication; õ note, a nonround Vowel posterior (similar to a O French, but really posterior, pronounced without district of the lips). Additional letters are used for the foreign words (name in Estonian between brackets): C ( tsee ), F ( EFF ), Q ( kuu ), š ( šaa ), Z ( zee ), ž ( žee ), W ( topeltvee or kaksisvee ), X ( iks ) and there ( igrek , as in French).

The orthography does not distinguish the long phonemes and surlongs; the ones like the others are noted by a double letter, while the short phonemes are noted by a simple letter. The only exception relates to the Occlusive S, for which three different C-Ws communication exist: the short ones are noted B , D , G , long the p , T , K , and the surlongues p , tt , kk .

Grammar

Typologiquement, the Estonian represents a form of transition between agglutinant Langue and inflected Language. He was subject to during his history a strong influence of the German , in his vocabulary as in his syntax. He for example developed a system of verbs with particle S whose form and operation recall the verbs to separable particles of German.

The Estonian does not have articles and the grammatical kind does not know. The variation includes/understands 14 Cas: Personal, Genitive, Partitive, It, Inessif, élatif, Allatif, Adessif, Ablative, Translative, Terminational, Essif, Abessif and Comitatif.

One of the characteristics of this case system is the absence of Accusatif; the Complément of object can be marked, according to the contexts, by the personal one, the genitive or the partitive one.

The attributive adjective agrees in case and of number with the substantive which it determines, except with terminational, essif, abessif and the comitatif one where there is no agreement in case (the adjective is then with the genitive).

Table of the cases

The verbal system is characterized by the absence of future (one uses the present) and by the existence of special forms to express the action achieved by an unspecified person (the equivalent of “one” French) as well as the reported speech (specific verbal mode called “oblique mode” or “Médiatif”). There exist at least two infinitives: the first, finished by the suffix - my , is the form which appears in the dictionaries; it is used for example after the verbs meaning “to have” or “to start with”. The second infinitive, especially finished in - da or in - your (but also in it , - Na or - ruffle ), is used for example after the verbs meaning “to be able”, “to want”, “to like”. Certain grammars also consider as a specific infinitive the form in - vat (corresponding to the médiatif present) when it is employed after a verb of appearance (meaning “to seem”).

History

Perhaps the first known transcription of an Estonian word goes back to the 8th century: in its Cosmography , Aethicus Ister mentions an island of the name of Taraconta (Tharaconta). Certain authors think that it indicated perhaps by there Estonia or its larger island, Saaremaa. Taraconta can indeed be interpreted like Taara + kond . Taara was, according to certain, one of the principal gods of the former Estonians; the suffix - kond indicates as for him a community of people, as in the word perekond “family”, or a territorial entity, as in maakond “province”. Taraconta could thus designate the Estonians like the admirers of Taara.

As from the 13th century, more abundant written sources make it possible to have a more precise idea of the level of development of the language. It is indeed at that time that the German and Scandinavian crusaders reach Estonia, which was then one of the last pagan grounds of Europe. The crusades against the Estonians were described during first half of the 13th century in the Latin chronicle Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae (chronic of Henri the Latvian), which contains words and fragments of sentence in Estonian.

Many proper names and Estonian toponyms are also attested as of the 13th century. A role of Danish tax ( Liber Census Daniae ), established between 1219 and 1220, includes/understands approximately 500 toponyms of the north of Estonia.

Following the Crusades, a German nobility and middle-class were established on the territory of old the Livonie, which covered Estonia and the current Latvia. Although Estonia changed several times of Master during seven centuries of foreign occupation (Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Russia), the Estonian was especially influenced by the Low-German and the High-German, as by the German dialect of the Baltic which developed from them. In particular, the vocabulary related to the city and modernity are inspired largely by German.

The first preserved Estonian text is that of the manuscript of Kullamaa, which dates from the years 1524 -1528. It is about a translation of the principal catholic prayers (“Our Father”, “I greet you Marie” and “I believe in a God”). When the Réforme arrived to Estonia, preaching in vernacular language made necessary the translation of the texts religious in Estonian of north and Estonian of the south.

The first grammars and the first dictionaries were written at the 17th century. One has had for this time a big number of preserved texts.

During the national Alarm clock which occurred in the middle of the 19th century, the Estonian, which was before only the language of the peasants, quickly became a language of culture, in particular thanks to the Université of Tartu, one of the principal intellectual hearths. He started to be used in literature and in sciences. In the same time the first linguistic studies in Estonian were published. In 1884, Karl August Hermann made appear the first Estonian grammar in Estonian, who contributed in an important way to the standardization of the language.

In second half of the 19th century, the indigenous population started to be indicated under the name of eesti , probably borrowed two centuries earlier from the Swedish or the German . Previously, the majority of the Estonians designated under the name of maarahvas “people of the country” and called their language maakeel “the language of the country”.

During the first decades of the 20th century, the Estonian intellectuals were given for mission of developing their language to adapt it to the modern European culture. A big role in this process was played by the linguist (and French professor) Johannes Aavik, which endeavoured to enrich and embellish the literary language. It abundantly used the resources provided by Finnish and the dialects, but also created artificial words and grammatical morphemes. French inspired many his proposals. Parallel to this “linguistic restoration” ( keeleuuendus ) launched by Aavik, another current, directed by Johannes Voldemar Veski, concentrated on the development of the standards and the development of the terminology. Several thousands of terms, in all the life and fields of knowledge, were created for this period. During the 20th century, a crucial role in the fixing of the standard language was played by the normative dictionaries. The first of them appeared in 1918.

During the Soviet occupation (1940-1991), the standardization of the language and the strict respect of the standards became a form of national resistance. It was a way of being opposed to the Soviet ideology, symbolized by the Russian language . The language was one of the fundamental components of the Estonian identity. The authorities had prohibited neither the scientific study of the Estonian besides nor his employment in the majority of the fields of the public life (including education), which allowed the Estonians and their language to resist Russianization and colonization. In the years 1990, the attitudes with regard to the linguistic standard were softened. The nonstandard sociolectes and other linguistic varieties returned to the honor.

May 1st 2004, the Estonian became one of the twenty official languages of the European Union.

Examples

Some current words

Numbers

0 - no one
1 - üks
2 - kaks
3 - kolm
4 - neli
5 - viis
6 - kuus
7 - seitse
8 - kaheksa
9 - üheksa
10 - kümme
11 - üksteist
12 - kaksteist
13 - kolmteist
20 - kakskümmend
21 - kakskümmend üks
22 - kakskümmend kaks
29 - kakskümmend üheksa
30 - kolmkümmend
90 - üheksakümmend
100 - (üks) sada
101 - sada üks
110 - sada kümme
112 - sada kaksteist
120 - sada kakskümmend
190 - sada üheksakümmend
200 - kakssada
900 - üheksasada
1000 - tuhat
1000000 - miljon
1000000000 - miljard

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

  • To learn the Estonian in Paris: the National institute of the languages and Eastern civilizations (INALCO)
  • Small bibliography, in French and English to learn the Estonian
  • Dictionary in line very complete French-Estonian-French with frequent updates.
  • To learn and listen to practical expressions in Estonian
  • To learn the Estonian on this polyglot site
  • Estonian (Languages off the World)

Fiu-vro: Eesti kiil Simple: Estonian language

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