Language Policy in Estonia — AABS Dissertation Grant

May 27, 2012

Delaney-skerrett-2011-dissDelaney Michael Skerrett, Ph.D. Candidate and Associate Lecturer at The University of Queensland, received an AABS dissertation grant in 2011. He updates AABS on his research outcomes in this report: I carried out a critical analysis of language policy and planning (LPP) in Estonia using two main methods of data collection: language diaries and interviews. The aim of language diary component was to obtain personal, naturalistic data about everyday language encounters. Participants were required to log, for a period of four weeks, details of their interactions with staff members in public and private organisations as they naturally occurred. The log had two central questions, one concerning the Estonian ability of the staff member, the other about the successfulness of the interaction, to which participants responded along a Likert-type scale. Participants also recorded numerous other variables related to the situation and the interlocutor.

Interviews were conducted with various key ethnic Estonian and Russian-speaking figures in the field of LPP, including representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Language Inspectorate, the Integration and Migration Foundation, and the Centre for Human Rights. The objective was to investigate the discourses framing these individuals’ views on LPP in Estonia and how these discourses relate to current as well potential future linguistic practices in the country.

Results indicate that Estonian enjoys “normalised” interethnic usage in the capital, Tallinn, but that Russian retains a relatively strong status in smaller towns in the capital region. There is also often little communication at all in interethnic transactions in public places. Integration and normalisation policies need to create social contexts that are conducive to practices of inclusion (i.e., mutual tolerance and meaningful interaction) between ethnic Estonians and Russian-speakers. This can be achieved through a rapprochement of discourses, by promoting a greater understanding of the attitudes, worldviews, and shared histories of the other group. At present, the discourses of many officials, ethnic Estonian and Russian-speaking alike, promote practices of exclusion (e.g., maintained separation of ethnic groups and lack of communication) rather than inclusion (e.g., integration and common language use).