Rahvakeelsus XX sajandi alguskümnendite Eesti keelekorralduses - Vaateid eesti keelekorralduse arenguloole
The vernacular approach in Estonian language planning during the first decades of the 20th century - Views on the development of Estonian language planning

Summary/Abstract: The early 20th century brought an awareness of a dire need for the standardization of Estonian. The article discusses the trends and views characteristic of Estonian corpus planning at that time, focusing on the role of the approach based on actual language use, which is the most prominent principle in language planning in Estonia today. In the beginning of the last century, when most Estonians still spoke their local vernacular, it was known as the vernacular approach. Although the language reform initiated by Johannes Aavik and the language-regulation led by Johannes Voldemar Veski differed in many ways, they both found vernacular Estonian to be a source of inspiration as well as valuable material for enriching standard Estonian. Both agreed on the legitimacy of changing the vernacular elements (phonetics, morphology, syntax, as well as semantics of the elements) according to the needs of standard Estonian. Consequently, both of the dominant stances and practices of corpus planning of the time followed standardization from above, which is common for communities still in the process of creating their own language standard (see, e.g., Rutten, Vosters 2021). The opposing views were the natural development approach mainly represented by Jaan Jõgever and Kaarel Leetberg, and the democratic approach led by Andrus Saareste. Those two resisted (to different degrees, though) artificial systematization and intervention in the language, arguing that corpus planning of a language should be based on its usage, i.e., the vernacular. Thus, the latter trends supported standardization from below (see Elspaβ 2021). The article has two aims: to present the views of different language planners at the time by illustrating their ideas with abundant quotations, and to analyse the vernacular approach in their major works.

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