Summary

Ethical conflicts during the COVID-19 pandemic

Margit Sutrop
Professor of Practical Philosophy
Head of the Chair of Practical Philosophy, University of Tartu
margit.sutrop@ut.ee

Kadri Simm
Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy, University of Tartu
kadri.simm@ut.ee

Keywords: clinical ethics recommendations for Estonian hospitals, COVID-19 pandemic, ethical choices, ethical guidelines, limited medical resources, vaccination certificate, values

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented interest in ethics, as societies are confronted with difficult ethical choices: life versus economic well-being, individual freedom versus health, free movement of people versus public health. All democratic societies have witnessed disagreements concerning restrictions to the free movement of people, vaccination policies, and distribution of healthcare resources. The adopted policies and formulated guidelines showed that different countries prioritized values differently. Amongst the most challenging ethical debates during the COVID-19 pandemic were attempts to formulate clinical ethical guidelines on how limited medical resources and services ought to be allocated should the need exceed availability. This article provides an overview of the process of compiling the clinical ethics recommendations for Estonian hospitals concerning the allocation of limited healthcare resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article describes the stakeholder involvement, engagements with comparable international documents, main internal debates and lessons learned for the future.

Margit Sutrop on eesti filosoof, Academia Europaea akadeemik, Tartu Ülikooli praktilise filosoofia professor ja eetikakeskuse juhataja. Tema peamine uurimisvaldkond on praktiline eetika, sealhulgas bioeetika ja eetika ajalugu, samuti haridusfilosoofia.

Margit Sutrop is Estonian philosopher, member of Academia Europaea, Professor of Practical Philosophy, and Head of the Centre for Ethics at the University of Tartu. Her main research interests lie in the field of practical ethics, bioethics, and the history of ethics as well as the philosophy of education.
margit.sutrop@ut.ee

Kadri Simm on eesti filosoof ja eetikateoreetik, Tartu Ülikooli praktilise filosoofia kaasprofessor. Tema teadustöö on seotud poliitika- ja moraalifilosoofia teemadega, peamised uurimissuunad: eetika, bioeetika, poliitikafilosoofia.

Kadri Simm is Estonian philosopher and theoretician of ethics, Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Tartu. Her research is related to the issues of philosophy of politics and morality, and her main research fields are ethics, bioethics, and philosophy of politics.
kadri.simm@ut.ee

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Representing distance learning in the memes of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: Internet humour as a way of coping and self-defence

Piret Voolaid
Senior Research Fellow
Executive Manager of the Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies
Department of Folkloristics, Estonian Literary Museum
piret.voolaid@folklore.ee

Keywords: COVID-19, crisis management, distance learning, humour, memes, school lore, visual communication

Restrictions and special measures were imposed around the world to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, one of the most important of which was certainly the reorganization of learning and work as a home-based activity. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in Estonia remained closed from 16 March 2020 until the end of the schoolyear; further periods of countrywide distance learning were imposed also throughout the 2020/2021 schoolyear.

The new way of life that accompanied the special situation was also reflected in widespread folklore, including internet memes. Defining memes as “(post)modern folklore” that expresses and shapes shared norms and values within communities, my article analyses the depiction of distance learning in Estonian memes, highlighting different points of view: the position of the students, the teachers, and the parents. The source data comes from the meme collection of the research archive of the Department of Folkloristics of the Estonian Literary Museum, which consists of more than 2,000 meme units collected during the crisis period. Some data were collected separately, for example, Tartu Variku School organized a meme competition “My distance learning” for the students of Tartu schools in April 2020 (541 memes). The comparative global collection (12,000 units) comes from the international project of corona folklore and -humour research “Humour during the global corona crisis” led by Giselinde Kuipers (Leuven Catholic University) and Mark Boukes (Amsterdam University); the project involves researchers from more than 30 countries.

The study addresses the following questions: What local features emerge in distance learning memes that spread during the pandemic? How have students used other cultural resources in these memes (e.g. pop culture elements known from literature, cinema, music and other important cultural texts)? Whether and how these memes express, for example, family relationships (between children/youngsters and parents), school relationships (between students and teachers), what patterns of distance working are prevalent, etc.

The meme material which has been inspired by distance learning is a fascinating contemporary subject that combines the challenging COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning as a characteristic feature of this period. Students who are the main creators of the memes regard the humorous memes about distance learning as a form of communication which offers an alternative and multifaceted perspective on this important method of learning during lockdown.

The Estonian material is largely based on internationally known universal meme templates that have been adapted to the local language and cultural space. When investigating the social networks and universal motifs reflected in the memes, it is important to rely on the qualitative content analysis. It is worth noting that the subject of COVID-19 and the pandemic period are rarely explicitly mentioned in the memes. The egocentric or student-centred perspective that is characteristic of this specific material highlights the general attitudes and shared patterns that are based on opposition, which is typical of youth culture. The common pairs of opposition are me/classmates, student/teacher, and student/parent.

The stereotypical roles reflected in the memes can be analysed figuratively via the ambivalent trickster figure, known from earlier folklore studies. Students are shown as cunning go-getters who use memes to discuss uncomfortable issues, mishaps, and problems. Stereotypically, the image of a teacher, but also that of a parent, is that of an authoritarian supervisor, a grade giver from the students’ perspective. This makes memes a highly important channel for schoolchildren to make their voice heard, either consciously or subconsciously. In the future, the material could be investigated in even greater detail from the aspect of youth language use and emotions, the interdisciplinary aspect, etc.

Piret Voolaid on Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi folkloristika osakonna vanemteadur, Eesti-uuringute Tippkeskuse tegevjuht. Peamised uurimisteemad on folkloori lühivormid (mõistatuste liigiline mitmekesisus ja sotsiokultuurilised kontekstid, vanasõnade kaasaegsed kasutuskontekstid), laste- ja noortefolkloor kui ühiskondlike muutuste ja hoiakute indikaator, meediafolkloor, sh interneti sotsiaalmeedia ilmingud, multimodaalsed ja visuaalsed folkloorivormid (nt paröömiline grafiti, piltmõistatused) kui nüüdisühiskonna sünkreetlised kultuurinähtused. Ta on tegelenud ka spordifolkloristika ehk spordifolkloorile keskenduva uurimissuuna arendamisega, koostanud mitmeid folkloori lühivormide andmebaase, avaldanud teadusartikleid, toimetanud artiklikogumikke ja ajakirjade erinumbreid.

Piret Voolaid is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Folkloristics of the Estonian Literary Museum, and an Executive Manager of the Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies. She defended her PhD (“Estonian Riddles as a Folklore Genre in a Changing Cultural Context”) in the field of Estonian and comparative folklore at the University of Tartu in 2011. Her current interests include minor forms of folklore (subgenres of Estonian riddles, proverbs in their various contemporary contexts), children’s and youth folklore, Internet, and sports lore. She has compiled academic comprehensive databases of the subgenres of riddles (droodles, joking questions, compound puns, abbreviation riddles, etc.), and a database of graffiti. She has written several studies on the topic and compiled popular editions on the basis of the database materials. She has guest-edited special issues of the journals Folklore: EJF and Mäetagused, and has been editor of some monographs.
piret.voolaid@folklore.ee

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Gendered nationalism in Lilli Suburg’s short story “Liina” (1877)

Eve Annuk
Senior Research Fellow
Estonian Cultural History Archives, Estonian Literary Museum
eve.annuk@kirmus.ee

Keywords: Estonian literature, feminism, Lilli Suburg (1841–1923), nationalism, 19th century

The article deals with the representation of nationalism in Lilli Suburg’s (1841–1923) short story “Liina” (1877). Lilli Suburg was a writer, journalist, pedagogue, and the first Estonian feminist. “Liina” is her most famous literary work, which also belongs among the most important works of early Estonian literature. “Liina” was published in two editions (1877, 1884) and was also translated into Finnish (1892). It is important in the context of Estonian national movement because it is a short story based on the central idea which emphasizes the importance of being Estonian. It became popular among readers and made the author famous.

“Liina” is based on Suburg’s German-language diary, and it is an autobiographical short story about an Estonian peasant girl who struggles to remain Estonian. The national ideas represented in “Liina” emphasize the importance of remaining Estonian in an environment where social mobility rather implied Germanization. On the other hand, the national theme in “Liina” represents a gendered viewpoint. Suburg understood the woman as a national subject equal to the man and therefore the carrier of national ideas is a woman – the protagonist called Liina. The article deals with the representation of nationalism and gender in the short story and also with the context of the creation and reception of the work.

Eve Annuk (PhD) on Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi Eesti Kultuuriloolise Arhiivi ja Eesti-uuringute Tippkeskuse vanemteadur. Tema uurimissuunad on eesti kirjanduse ajalugu, soouuringud Eestis ja nõukogude perioodi Eesti kultuurilugu. Ta on uurinud Eesti esimese feministi, kirjaniku, ajakirjaniku ja pedagoogi Lilli Suburgi (1841–1923) ning luuletaja Ilmi Kolla (1933–1954) elu ja tegevust. Tema viimaste artiklite hulka kuuluvad “Feminism in the Post-Soviet place: the geopolitics of Estonian feminism” väljaandes Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography (2019), koos dr. Marika Seigeliga (Michigani Tehnoloogiaülikool) “Pregnancy, Motherhood and/as/or Dissent: The Soviet Micro-rhetorics of Gender” väljaandes Rhetoric Review (2020).

Eve Annuk (PhD) is Senior Research Fellow at the Estonian Cultural History Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum, and member of the Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies. Her research concerns Estonian literary history, Estonian gender history, and cultural history of the Soviet period in Estonia. She has studied the life and work of Lilli Suburg (1841–1923), a writer, journalist, pedagogue, and the first Estonian feminist, as well as the work of the female poet Ilmi Kolla (1933–1954). Her most recent publications include “Feminism in the Post-Soviet Place: The Geopolitics of Estonian Feminism” in Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography (2019), and together with Dr Marika Seigel (Michigan Technological University) “Pregnancy, Motherhood and/as/ or Dissent: The Soviet Micro-rhetorics of Gender” in Rhetoric Review (2020).
eve.annuk@kirmus.ee

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Tio, Rosi, Li(e)so and Tomas: In search of authors publishing poems in Estonian around 1780

Kairit Kaur
Research Fellow
University of Tartu
Tallinn University Academic Library

Keywords: Ehstländische poetische Blumenlese, Andreas Traugott Grahl, local tongue, poetry, Hans Wenzel von Tiesenhausen, Ottilie von Tiesenhausen, women

According to Recke and Napiersky, the first poems in Estonian from the pen of a woman were allegedly published in 1779, in the sheet music book Oden und Lieder in Musik gesetzt by Andeas Traugott Grahl, a private tutor in the Governorate of Estonia, but unfortunately it is not preserved. More luckily another sheet music book by him, Lieder und Handsachen für das Klavier und den Gesang, published in Leipzig in 1784, was available to the researchers before World War II. Two poems by Estonian ladies were published there: Tio, tassane ja helde and Liesole. A variant of the Tio-poem (the socalled Rosi-poem) was published in 1787 in the 5th volume of the reader Lesebuch für Ehst- und Livland by Friedrich Gotthilf Findeisen in Oberpahlen (Põltsamaa) in Livonia, and a year later, in 1788, in a longer version in the German literary magazine Der Teutsche Merkur. To the latter, the poem was mediated by Christian Hieronymus Justus Schlegel, a private tutor in Estonia from 1780 to 1782, and then pastor, who left Estonia in 1783. However, he did not ascribe the Rosi-poem to an Estonian lady, but to a gentleman, von Tiesenhausen of Saus, who wrote the poem on the occasion of the passing of his wife.

There are several manors called Saus or Sauß in Estonia. Traditionally the Rosipoem has been ascribed to Ber(e)nd Heinrich von Tiesenhausen of Groß-Sauß (Sausti or Kaarepere). But there was another manor called Sauß (Sauste) near Wesenberg (Rakvere), which belonged to captain Hans Wen(t)zel(l) von Tiesenhausen from 1779 to 1781. Based on several sources, this paper brings forth arguments to support the thesis that the gentleman, von Tiesenhausen, mentioned by Schlegel was actually Hans Wenzel von Tiesenhausen. This man was probably also identical with the captain von Tiesenhausen, whom Grahl has named as his employer in the subscription call of the Lieder und Handsachen. According to Professor Gustav Suits, Grahl acted as a private tutor somewhere near Wesenberg.

The paper also suggests that H. W. von Tiesenhausen was the author of the poem Der Client an seinen Sachwalter, published in the muses almanac Estländische poetische Blumenlese for 1780. Earlier this poem has been ascribed to Johann Georg von Tiesenhausen from Northern Latvia.

Dirk Sangmeister has guessed that the Albrechts who published the almanac mentioned the name Wesenberg on the cover of the first issue of their periodical (for 1779) in honour of the owner of the Wesenberg manor, judge Jakob Johann von Tiesenhausen and his family, with whom Sangmeister believes the Albrechts stood in a cordial relationship as Sophie Albrecht dedicated several poems to a certain Ottilie von Tiesenhausen. The last one lets us know that on the 9th of June 1781, the news of the death of her beloved friend had reached Sophie Albrecht.

The date 9th of June 1781 (due to calendar differences actually 11 days later) can also be found in the archival materials concerning H. W. von Tiesenhausen – on this day his bankruptcy proceedings were started. Already in January 1781 he had sold Sauß; in March 1781 his other manor – Tuddo (Tudu) – was sold too; these are likely the two manors mentioned in his German poem. The bankruptcy proceedings were evoked by a lawsuit, initiated in March 1780 by J. J. von Tiesenhausen, who from 1774 to 1780 rented his Wesenberg manor to his second cousin Hans Wenzel. From 1779 the latter had difficulties in paying the rent. As at the time of the publication of Estländische poetische Blumenlese it was H. W. von Tiesenhausen who was living in the manor of Wesenberg, the recipient of the poems by Sophie Albrecht was very likely his wife.

Neither the given nor the maiden name of this woman or her birth date and the exact death date are preserved. H. W. von Tiesenhausen mentions his wife without her name in his report to the court, Demüthigste Anzeige und Unterlegung der wahren Umstände meines gegenwärtigen unglücklichen und betrübten Schicksaals (The humblest report and interpretation of the true circumstances of my current unhappy and sad fate), signed 26 June 1781. It appears that his wife really died shortly before the composing of the report. Frau Capitainin Tiesenhausen has also been mentioned three times in the birth register of the Wesenberg church in 1777 as a godparent, one of the cases being as godmother of a girl, whose mother was the sister of G. W. von Schwengelm, the employer of mister Schlegel, who mediated the Rosi-poem to the Teutsche Merkur!

The paper also presumes that the ladies mentioned by Grahl could have been translators and guesses who these women were, but as we lack confirmed proof, the investigation must continue.

Kairit Kaur on Tartu Ülikooli ja Tallinna Ülikooli Akadeemilise raamatukogu teadur. Ta on õppinud saksa keelt ja kirjandust ning kaitsnud doktorikraadi võrdlevas kirjandusteaduses. Tema huvikeskmes on baltisaksa kirjandus ja kultuur, selle suhted Lääne-Euroopaga, maailmakirjanduse tulek Eestisse ja siinse regiooni varane naiskirjandus.

Kairit Kaur is research fellow at the University of Tartu and Tallinn University Academic Library. She has studied German language and literature and defended her thesis in comparative literature. Her main focus of interest is on Baltic German literature and culture, their relations to Western Europe, the arrival of world literature to Estonia and the early women’s writing in this region.
kairit.kaur@ut.ee, kairit.kaur@tlulib.ee

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Narrative and topic in Heino Eller’s “Symphonic Legend”

Karl Joosep Pihel
PhD student
Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics
University of Tartu
kjoosepp@gmail.com

Keywords: Byron Almén, Heino Eller, music semiotics, narrative, topos

This article focuses on the narrative analysis of late-romantic instrumental music. Having adopted the structuralist-semiotic conception of musical narrative as proposed by Byron Almén (2008) as the transvaluation of an opposing hierarchy, and the concept of the musical topic as musical elements with specific stylistic-cultural associations, I analyse the expressive form of Heino Eller’s early symphonic poem “Symphonic Legend” (1923). Narrative logic was found to permeate the musical work despite its collage or suite-like form, as the composer introduces characteristic musical actors that reappear in different musical contexts. These actors are largely distinguished by musical topics, the conventional stylistic associations related with their musical characteristics as Eller’s piece presents a wide synthesis of styles – from musical impressionism and expressionism to lyrical or chromatic late-romantic; and various topics, such as fantastic, ombra, apassionata, pianto, heroic, and pastoral. Further, I propose a layered narrative structure for the “Symphonic Legend”, as the jarring and abrupt changes in musical material, affect and topic between different movements of the piece suggest shifts in the level of musical discourse and a framed narrative, as proposed by Hatten (1994).

The primary order-imposing hierarchy is identified as the pastoral-impressionist topic that acts as the introduction and coda to the entire piece while the transgressive hierarchy is carried by antagonistic musical material associated with fantastical and dysphoric topics (whole-tone scale, chromaticism, fanfare-like brass and ombra) and with the main theme-actor of the piece (a theme strongly resembling the main theme of the first part of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherezade”). While the pastoral beginning and end of the piece (1st and 11th sections) suggest a narrative trajectory of a romance or “the victory of the order-imposing hierarchy over the transgression”, the abrupt shifts that occur between those sections and the middle-sections of the piece suggest that these take place at a different level of discourse, placing the narrative weight in sections 2–10, where the primary conflict seems to be between the antagonistic material and the themeactor. In the middle sections Eller seems to problematize the typical narrative trajectory of dysphoric to euphoric in 19th-century symphonic poems, as the theme-actor’s heroic apotheosis in the 9th section is undermined by its reprise in section 10 and ultimate inability to be united with the order-imposing hierarchy in the coda, suggesting an ironic narrative. This reading is hopefully the first of many narrative analyses of Eller’s and other Estonian composers’ unique late-romantic and early modern symphonic poems.

Karl Joosep Pihel on Tartu Ülikooli semiootika ja kultuuriteooria doktorant. Tema uurimisvaldkonnaks on läbivalt olnud muusikalise tähenduse ja representatsiooni probleemid: ta on kirjutanud ruumist ja ruumi kujutamisest muusikas ning hetkel kirjutab diagrammilistest märkidest või analoogiapõhisest tähendusest muusikas C. S. Peirce’i märgiteooriast lähtudes. Ühtlasi on ta õppinud kompositsiooni Tartu Heino Elleri muusikakoolis Alo Põldmäe käe all ning muusikateadust Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemias, kus ta kirjutas narratiivist ja toposest Heino Elleri “Sümfoonilises legendis”.

Karl Joosep Pihel completed his master’s studies in the field of semiotics and cultural theory at the University of Tartu and is currently a PhD student in the same field. His focus of research has been on the problems of musical signification and representation; he has written about space and representation of space in music and is currently studying diagrammatic signs or analogy-based meaning in music, based on C.S. Peirce’s sign theory. He has studied composition with Alo Põldmäe at Tartu Heino Eller Music School, and music science at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, where his thesis studied narrative and topos in Heino Eller’s “Symphonic Legend”.
kjoosepp@gmail.com

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The learning patterns in studying a piece of music in basic piano studies

Veeda Kala
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
veeda8@gmail.com

Jaan Ross
Professor emeritus
Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre
Member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences

jaan.ross@gmail.com

Keywords: basic studies, learning, learning patterns, music, piano

This article was inspired by the first author’s observations in the teaching process, which refer to different learning patterns in studying a piece of music. I have noticed that although I teach all the students by using quite the same methods, part of them remember the pieces rather quickly and they prefer to play and practise them from memory. Some others, on the other hand, prefer to play from notes, and they continue doing it during the whole learning process. The aim of this article is to find, by an evidence-based method, the occurrence of the abovementioned learning patterns and describe their characteristic features. In case peculiarities occur, which can be projected against the typology of different learning patterns, it is possible to study connections with the earlier learning styles and learning and information processing theories. It also enables us to offer applications for a more person-centred approach in piano pedagogy to enhance both the learning process, student-teacher collaboration, and the student’s development as well as make them subjectively more pleasant for both parties. To investigate the learning patterns in basic piano studies, I video-recorded the classes with students of possibly similar backgrounds, giving them tasks testing their memory and note-reading skills. Based on the analysis of the collected information, I made conclusions about the existence and nature of hypothetical intuitive learning patterns. The interesting observations made by formal and non-formal examination add material for future in-depth studies, as the described phenomenon should be approached, above all, as a continuum, which enables us to estimate students’ inclination towards one or the other side to a greater or lesser extent, and consequently, the application of a better adapted teaching strategies.

Veeda Kala on lõpetanud bakalaureuse klassikalise klaveri erialal aastal 2018 ning magistri muusikapsühholoogia erialal ja klaveripedagoogika kõrvalerialal cum laude Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemias aastal 2020.

Veeda Kala has a bachelor’s degree in classical piano (2018) and master’s degree cum laude in music psychology and piano pedagogy as a minor (2020) from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.
veeda8@gmail.com

Jaan Ross lõpetas 1980. aastal Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia cum laude muusikateadlase ja pedagoogina, 1988. a. kaitses kunstiteaduste kandidaadi väitekirja “Konsonantsuse objektiivsed eeltingimused muusikas” Leedu Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemias ning 1992. a. psühholoogiadoktori väitekirja Turu Abo Akadeemias. Ross on mitmete Eesti ja välismaa teadusühingute liige. Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia liikmeks valiti Ross 2003. aastal, aastatel 2009-2018 oli ta Euroopa Kognitiivsete Muusikateaduste Ühingu (ESCOM) juhatuse liige.

Jaan Ross graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre cum laude as a musicologist and educationalist in 1980, defended his first doctoral thesis “Objective preconditions of consonance in music” in art sciences at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 1988, and his second doctoral dissertation in psychology at Åbo Akademi University in 1992. Ross is a member of several Estonian and international scientific societies. He was elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 2003; in 2009–2018 he was a board member of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music.
jaan.ross@gmail.com

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The Creation Story in Philosophy: Mr Berkeley’s Response to Lady Percival

Roomet Jakapi
Associate Professor of History of Philosophy
University of Tartu
roomet.jakapi@ut.ee

Keywords: Berkeley, history of philosophy, revealed religion, the Creation story, early modern period

The paper discusses George Berkeley’s metaphysical account of the Creation in his work Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713). As we know from Berkeley’s correspondence, his detailed attempt to show that his immaterialist philosophy is compatible with the Mosaic description of the Creation was occasioned by an objection from the wife of his friend Sir John Percival.

According to Berkeley’s philosophy, only minds and ideas exist. Physical things such as books and trees are mere collections of ideas in human minds. No thing can exist unless there is a mind to perceive it. Yet the Mosaic story states that many things were created and existed before humans came into being. Lady Percival pointed out that Berkeley’s view makes it hard to understand how things could be created if there were no human beings around to perceive them.

In response, Berkeley offered a sophisticated metaphysical construct in which the creation of the physical world is interpreted as God’s decree to produce certain kinds of ideas in potential perceivers.

The paper aims to show how Berkeley’s response to Lady Percival’s objection reflects the complicated relationship between philosophy and revealed religion in the early 18th century. Berkeley’s commitment to biblical truth sets significant limits to his philosophical speculation.

Roomet Jakapi on Tartu Ülikooli filosoofia ajaloo kaasprofessor. Tema peamised uurimis- ja õpetamisvaldkonnad on varauusaegne filosoofia ja analüütiline religioonifilosoofia.

Roomet Jakapi is Associate Professor of History of Philosophy at the University of Tartu. His main fields of research and teaching are early modern philosophy and analytic philosophy of religion.
roomet.jakapi@ut.ee

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We can’t get by without the pragmatics corpus. Corpus pragmatics and the pragmatics corpus

Külli Prillop
Research Fellow
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
University of Tartu
kulli.prillop@ut.ee

Tiit Hennoste
Associate Professor
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
University of Tartu
tiit.hennoste@ut.ee

Külli Habicht
Associate Professor
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
University of Tartu
kulli.habicht@ut.ee

Helle Metslang
Professor Emerita
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
University of Tartu
helle.metslang@ut.ee

Keywords: discourse marker, Estonian language, language statistics corpus pragmatics, register, (inter)subjectivity, text type

Within the project “Pragmatics above grammar: Subjectivity and intersubjectivity in Estonian registers and text types” (PRG341) we are studying the expression of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in different written and spoken registers of modern Estonian. We focus on adverbs that function as discourse markers (e.g. vist ‘maybe, probably’, ilmselt ‘apparently, obviously’, tegelikult ‘actually’), markers that develop from main clauses containing cognition verbs that take sentence complements (e.g. (ma) arvan ‘I think’, usun ‘I believe’, (mulle) tundub ‘it seems (to me), it appears (that)’) as well as modal and performative verbs (e.g. võib (juhtuda) ‘can (happen)’, peaks (tulema) ‘should (come)’; kinnitan/väidan (olevat) ‘I affirm/claim’). The analysis combines quantitative corpus-linguistic and qualitative pragmatic approaches, thus belonging to the field of corpus pragmatics. Unlike previous studies of related topics, the project systematically compares the usage of markers in different registers (spoken, online communication, print texts) and text types.

The pilot studies performed thus far have revealed several problems with the existing Estonian corpora, important in the study of pragmatics. Firstly, some text types are underrepresented or not represented at all, the text types cannot always be distinguished, and the particular text may not always correspond to the nominal text type (e.g. an academic text may contain quotes from texts of other types). All of this makes it difficult to do comparative statistical analysis of different text types. Secondly, the markers under examination are multifunctional and identifying their (inter)subjective function requires consideration of context broader than a single sentence. However, the public search systems for the existing corpora do not provide this context. For instance, the discourse marker function of cognition verbs is indicated primarily by the fact that the topic of the conversation or text follows through the subordinate clause, not the main clause. Since the available search systems do not provide context larger than a single sentence, the identification of the topic of the discourse, and therefore of the potential discourse-marker function of the verb, is made more difficult.

To avoid these problems, the project working group is developing a new “Pragmatics” corpus, being created in the SketchEngine environment. The corpus is made up of 10 subcorpora representing different text types and registers. Each subcorpus contains roughly 500,000 words.

Külli Prillop (PhD) on Tartu Ülikooli eesti fonoloogia teadur. Lisaks fonoloogia uurimisele osaleb ta pragmaatika projektirühmas, on vana kirjakeele korpuse üks koostajatest ja on loonud korpuste märgendusprogramme. Külli Prillop (PhD) is Research Fellow of Estonian phonology at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu. She is also a member of the project team of pragmatics, one of the compilers of the corpus of old literary Estonian, and has created tagging solutions for text corpora.
kulli.prillop@ut.ee

Tiit Hennoste (PhD) on Tartu Ülikooli eesti ja üldkeeleteaduse instituudi kaasprofessor. Tema peamine uurimisvaldkond on suuline eesti keel ja suhtlus, lisaks eesti keele allkeeled ja spontaanse netisuhtluse keel. Tiit Hennoste (PhD) is Associate Professor at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics of the University of Tartu. His main fields of research are spoken Estonian and spoken interaction, varieties of Estonian, and the language of spontaneous online communication.
tiit.hennoste@ut.ee

Külli Habicht (PhD) on Tartu Ülikooli eesti ja üldkeeleteaduse instituudi eesti keele kaasprofessor. Tema põhilised uurimisvaldkonnad on eesti vanem kirjakeel, kirjakeele morfosüntaktiline varieerumine ja muutumine ning pragmaatikaüksuste kujunemine.

Külli Habicht (PhD) is Associate Professor of the Estonian language at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu. Her main research areas are older literary Estonian, morphosyntactic variations and development of the literary language, and the development of pragmatic units.
kulli.habicht@ut.ee

Helle Metslang (PhD) on Tartu Ülikooli emeriitprofessor. Tema uurimisvaldkondadeks on morfosüntaks, pragmaatika, keele dünaamika, keele varieerumine, ajalooline sotsiolingvistika, kontrastiivlingvistika ja keeletüpoloogia. Helle Metslang (PhD) is Professor Emerita at the University of Tartu. Her research interests include morphosyntax, pragmatics, language dynamics, language variation, historical sociolinguistics, contrastive linguistics, and language typology.
helle.metslang@ut.ee

News, overviews   

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Birthday greetings

Rutt Hinrikus (75), Paul Hagu (75), Juri Berezkin (75), Chas S. Clifton (70), Diane Goldstein (65), Monika Kropej (65), Urmas Sutrop (65), Aado Lintrop (65), Eva Toulouze (65), Tatjana Minnijahmetova (Tatiana Minniyakhmetova) (60), Kadri Tamm (60), Mari-Ann Remmel (55), Ell Vahtramäe (55), Ene Kõresaar (50), Risto Järv (50), Piret Voolaid (50), Kanni Labi (50), Virve Sarapik (50), Katre Kikas (40), Lina Gergova (40), Jüri Metssalu (40), Anastasiya Astapova (35), Olga Ivaškevitš (35).

Stalinism and folkloristics: Ideologies of political power in science

On 27 August 2021 Kaisa Langer defended her doctoral dissertation titled Estonian Folklore in the Context of Late Stalinist Folkloristics to obtain the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Folkloristics. Her opponent Tiiu Jaago gives an overview of the dissertation.

Calendar

A brief summary of the events of Estonian folklorists from July to December 2021.

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Calendar

A brief summary of the events of Estonian folklorists from April to July 2021.

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