Language, Identity, and Power: The Sociolinguistic Dynamics of Estonian and Russian in Post-Soviet Estonia

Written by Viiu Wichman

Estonia is a small country located in northeastern Europe. It borders the Gulf of Finland to the north, the Baltic Sea to the west, Russia to the east and Latvia to the south.

The country has historically been inhabited by ethnic Estonians, who speak the Estonian language. Because of its strategic location, it has been occupied by a number of different forces, including the Danes, Swedes, Germans, and most recently, the Soviet Union.

According to the 2011 census, Estonia has a population of 1.34 million people; 68.5% are ethnic Estonians and Estonian speakers; 26.5% are ethnic Russians, and 29.6% of the population are Russian speakers (PHC, 2012).

The majority of the population is bilingual. The majority of those who are not are Russians who had been relocated during Soviet occupation.

The two languages are not related. Estonian is in the Uralic language family, and is part of the Finnic branch–closely related to Finnish, and more distantly to Hungarian. It is one of the few European languages that is not part of the Indo-European family. Russian is an East Slavic language, in the Indo-European family.

The history between these two ethnic groups is long and contentious. Estonia gained its independence from Germany on February 24, 1918. Shortly after, on June 16, 1940, it fell under Soviet occupation. Soviet rule brought with it intense Russification policies, which were detrimental to both the Estonian language and culture. 

According to the 1934 population census (the last taken while Estonia was an independent nation) the Estonian population consisted of 88.1% ethnic Estonians, and 11.9% other; in 1959, Estonians constituted 74.6% of the population; and in the 1989 census, the last taken before Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union, Estonians constituted just 61.5% of the population. This decrease in the ethnic Estonian population was the result of their mass deportation (over 30,000 people were sent to work camps in Siberia), and mass emigration (tens of thousands fled from Estonia to find refuge in the West). It coincided with the relocation of thousands of ethnic Russians, as part of the Soviet Resettlement Policy. From 1934 to 1989, the duration of Soviet occupation, the Russian population in Estonia increased from 92,656 to 474,834.

Russian was made the second language in education, no longer just a ‘foreign’ language. In several areas, it became the first. It replaced Estonian in official settings as well. Thus, learning to speak the local language was deemed useless by much of the new population. Many Estonians had to learn Russian in order to maintain their jobs, and it became necessary to teach children Russian from a young age (Rannut, 2004).

Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, a newly independent Estonia declared Estonian the official language. Active efforts have since been made towards the strengthening of its status, both in Estonia itself, and internationally.

During the Soviet occupation, newly settled Russians, a statistical minority, enjoyed a higher social status than ethnic Estonians. Russian was a a language in which a formal education could be attained, and in which business of any sort could be conducted. Language policy was discussed under the pretense of ideology (Rannut, 2004). The Russian language had a higher status than Estonian.

After gaining independence, Estonian efforts to revitalize and reinstate their culture have focused heavily on elevating the status of the Estonian language (Meri, 2012). The official measures taken,along with less official prestige planning directed towards the preservation and advancement of the Estonian language, have delivered successful results. The minority Russian population has felt the consequences of these efforts the most. 

In 1995, Estonia passed the Language Act, which established that the official language of Estonia is Estonian, and that “the state shall promote the use and development of the Estonian language, Estonian sign language, and signed Estonian language,” (Language Act, 1995). The measures stipulated by the Language Act, and subsequent legislation, is actively enforced by the language inspectorate. Its enforcement has become a particularly contentious issue in education. 

Public schools in Estonia are required to be “Estonian-language” schools: this means that at least 60% of the studies must take place in Estonian (“Right of Children,” 2012). Furthermore, all state employees are required to have proficiency in the Estonian language. Many of the schools located in these areas have long been Russian-speaking, but must now make the switch to predominantly Estonian. This is a difficult task, because most of the teachers in these schools are themselves not proficient in the language, and are thus unable to instruct in it.

The New York Times published an article titled “Estonia Raises Its Pencils to Erase Russian”. According to the article, the enforcement of the Language Act has turned public schools in areas that contain the highest numbers of ethnic Russians, namely Narva, Kohtla-Jarve, and Tallinn, into “linguistic battlegrounds”. Views on Estonian language policy and the language inspectorate vary widely due to the tense social history between the two ethnic groups, as well as the difficulty that Estonian, a rather complex language, presents to those required to learn it. Because inadequate proficiency is punishable by law, critics of the act view it as a form of discrimination against the ethnic Russian minority.

According to the Ethnologue database (2012), there are 143,553,950 Russian speakers, and 1,048,660 Estonian speakers worldwide. Russian has a much greater vitality than Estonian when it comes to world languages. The language at immediate risk in Estonia, however, is Russian.

Estonian has gained importance through cultural revitalization efforts since independence. Russian has lost status because of this. The efforts to advance the national and international status of the Estonian language are seen by Russians as targeting them, while those who implement and defend these efforts maintain that they target no group in particular and are made out of necessity, for the maintenance of the Estonian language and culture.

The efforts that the Estonian government has been making may seem too strict and demanding to some. But as it stands today, the Estonian language is at much greater risk than Russian of being lost. Together with the history that the two ethnic groups share, Estonian language policy does not seem unreasonable.

Works Cited

Estonia State Language Board. (1995). Language Act (Riigi-teataja, I 1995, 23, 334). Retrieved from www.hm.ee/index.php?popul=download&id=6912

Estonian State Portal. (2012). Right of children of ethnic minorities to study their native language. Retrieved September 17, 2012, from http://www.eesti.ee/eng/topics/citizens/haridus_teatusuldharidus/rahvusvahemustest_laste_oigus_emakeele_oppimiseks

Estonia.eu: Official Gateway to Estonia. This website contains an overview of the Estonian nation, with articles written about its history, language, culture, and more. (www.estonia.eu)

Ethnologue: Languages of the World maintains a database of the world’s languages. (www.ethnologue.com)

Levy, Clifford J.. (2010). Estonia Raises Its Pencils to Erase Russian. The New York Times, published June 8, 2010. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/world/europe/08estonia.html?_r=0

Meri, Mart. (2012). The Story of the Estonian Language. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, September 28, 2012. Retrieved from http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/culture-a-science/estonian-lanuage.html

Rannut, Mart. (2004, spring-summer). Language Policy in Estonia. Noves SL. Revista de Sociolinguistica, 1-17. Retrieved from http://www.gencat.cal/llengua/noves/hm04primavera_estiu/rannut1_6.htm

Statistics Estonia. (2012). Population and Housing Census (PHC) 2011: 157 Native Languages Spoken in Estonia. Estonia: Population and Housing Census. Retrieved from www.state.ee/64629?parent_id=39113