Abstract
This chapter investigates policies which shape the role of the German language in contemporary Estonia. Whereas German played for many centuries an important role as the language of the economic and cultural elite in Estonia, it severely declined in importance throughout the twentieth century. Mirrored on this historical background, the paper provides an overview of the current functions of German and attitudes towards it and it discusses how these functions and attitudes are influenced by policies of various actors from inside and outside Estonia. The paper argues that German continues to play a significant role: while German is no longer a lingua franca, it still enjoys a number of functions and prestige in clearly defined niches involving communication within German-speaking circles or between Estonians and Germans. The interplay of language policies of the Estonian and the German-speaking states as well as by semi-state and private institutions succeed in maintaining German as an additional language in contemporary Estonia.
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Notes
- 1.
Eesti Statistika PC0421; note that the statistics do not differentiate between Swiss with a German-speaking and with other backgrounds.
- 2.
‘Peep into the kitchen’ in Low German.
- 3.
“Discover places in Estonia with a connection to Germany”.
- 4.
saksa-eesti.ee.
- 5.
“Come back” and “lion’s rest” in German, respectively.
- 6.
The restaurant is located in a building which once belonged to a manor of the same name; the nearby park with a well-known lion’s statue also carries the name in the German version.
- 7.
Very few Baltic Germans stayed in Estonia after 1939/1941.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
Panel discussion on the role of German in June 2015.
- 12.
Numbers for the school year 2014/2015, http://www.haridussilm.ee/?leht=alus_yld_6
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- 14.
Note that the respondents could choose that less than three languages should be learnt which explains the high number of invalid answers; the third place of Estonian among first foreign languages is caused by answers from respondents with Russian as L1.
- 15.
- 16.
For example Tallinn German High School will be merged with Tallinn Sikupilli Gymnasium.
- 17.
- 18.
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Marten, H.F. (2017). Negotiating a Place for German in Estonia: Contemporary Functions, Attitudes and Policies. In: Siiner, M., Koreinik, K., Brown, K. (eds) Language Policy Beyond the State. Language Policy, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52993-6_8
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