Estonian Speakers Research Articles

Planning sentences and sentence intonation in Estonian

The notion of advance planning of sentence intonation is grounded in the positive correlation between the sentence-initial intonation peaks and sentence duration. This study examined real-time sentence planning and intonation using visual world speech production. In two eye-tracking experiments, native Estonian speakers described transitive events involving multiple actors. Conceptual complexity of the resulting picture descriptions was manipulated through a pictorial design, while sentence length was controlled for by manipulating specific task characteristics. In Experiment I, conceptual complexity of the picture descriptions varied together with linguistic complexity, while linguistic complexity was held constant in Experiment II. As the conceptual complexity of utterances increased, the duration of naming gazes also increased, indicating less incremental conceptual planning. Notably, while utterance-initial intonation peaks did not correlate with the relative duration of naming gazes, they were influenced by utterance length. These findings highlight advance planning of intonation in Estonian. Furthermore, they suggest that intonation planning depends on linguistic information that is rapidly activated after establishing a comprehensive conceptual framework during earliest stages of preverbal planning.

Return, adaptation, and transnational relations among Estonian citizens returned from Finland

ABSTRACT A growth in return migration has prompted increasing inquiries into its effects on the countries of origin and the adaptation of returning migrants. This article studies the return, adaptation, and transnational relations among Estonian citizens returned from Finland. The material derives from interviews of 41 Estonian speakers and 19 Russian speakers who returned to Estonia. Many migrants made the actual return decision rather rapidly. Overall, most returned migrants adapted easily to Estonia. Most returned to work and had intensive social networks in Estonia. They maintained contact with Finland but often mainly with Estonians living there. Only a few consider onward migration.

Concreteness ratings for 36,000 Estonian words.

We present a collection of concreteness ratings for 35,979 words in Estonian. The data were collected via a web application from 2278 native Estonian speakers. Human ratings of concreteness have not been collected for Estonian beforehand. We compare our results to Aedmaa etal. (2018), who assigned concreteness ratings to 240,000 Estonian words by means of machine learning. We show that while these two datasets show reasonable correlation (R = 0.71), there are considerable differences in the distribution of the ratings, which we discuss in this paper. Furthermore, the results also raise questions about the importance of the type of scale used for collecting ratings. While most other datasets have been compiled based on questionnaires entailing five- or seven-point Likert scales, we used a continuous 0-10 scale. Comparing our rating distribution to those of other studies, we found that it is most similar to the distribution in Lahl et al. (Behavior Research Methods, 41(1), 13-19, 2009), who also used a 0-10 scale. Concreteness ratings for Estonian words are available at OSF .

Juhtumianalüüs: märkamatu keeleõppe projekt TLÜ-s

Eesti muutumisega sisseränderiigiks on kaasnenud eesti keele kui teise keele (E2) õppe sihtrühmade mitmekesisus ning vajadus uuenduslike õppeviiside järele. Keeleõppija võimalusele arendada oma keeleoskust keelekeskkonnas on siiani vähe tähelepanu pööratud. Õppijad kurdavad, et igapäevaelus on raske eesti keelt harjutada, sest emakeelekõneleja vahetab pigem suhtluskeelt, selmet keeleõppijat toetada. 2019. ja 2020. aasta sügissemestril viisime TLÜ projektiõppeaines ELU ehk erialasid lõimiv uuendus läbi keeleõppeprojekti eesmärgiga teadvustada üliõpilaste seas uuenduslikke keeleõppemeetodeid, mitteformaalõppe võimalusi, aga ka emakeelekõneleja rolli keeleõppija toetamisel. Artiklis anname ülevaate projektil põhinevast juhtumiuuringust, mille aluseks on osalenud üliõpilaste ja õppejõudude eneserefleksioon. Vastame küsimustele: mida eeldab märkamatu keeleõpe läbiviijalt; millised olid osalenute arusaamad märkamatust keeleõppest kursuse järel. *** Unnoticeable language teaching Since 2015 Estonia’s immigration balance has been positive. That has brought along increased variety in L2 learners and a need for innovative approaches to L2 teaching. Little attention has been paid to the language learner’s opportunities to develop their language skills in the authentic environment: according to learners, native speakers tend to change the language to the common lingua franca instead of supporting them. The article gives an overview of a case study of an unnoticeable language teaching project that was carried out within an interdisciplinary project course at Tallinn University where students from various disciplines participated together. The main objectives of the project were to propagate innovative language teaching methods and opportunities for non-formal learning, but also to develop a new language teaching style and to increase native speakers’ consciousness of their role in supporting learners and to support integration. The study is based on self-reflections of both students and project leaders and aims to find out what unnoticeable language teaching requires from organisers of activities and how participants defined this approach at the end of the project. Most students became considerably more aware of innovative language teaching methods and their effectiveness. The project was particularly useful for those who could use their new skills in their work (teachers, coaches etc.), but others found it beneficial as well. Nevertheless, it became obvious that the integration-related goals should be better emphasized throughout the course: these were seldom mentioned in the self-reflections. Students should also be referred to cogitate upon how they could use their new skills when communicating with non-Estonian speakers. Native Estonian speakers should realise their responsibility in supporting learners and recognising themselves as an authentic language resource. Though it was not often explicitly expressed, the self-reflections indicated that our projects’ participants will not be as eager to change language as before. The practical outcome of the project could be a non-formal or in-service program for educationalists. We hope the project spreads awareness of a simple way of fostering integration and supporting language learners – how to be an unnoticeable language teacher. The latter of course does not mean there will be no need for professional E2 teachers; we hope our project has shown how exciting and useful the profession can be and that such courses will attract more people to take up teacher training in the future.

A perceptual study of language chunking in Estonian

AbstractTwo studies investigate the production and perception of speech chunks in Estonian. A corpus study examines to what degree the boundaries of syntactic constituents and frequent collocations influence the distribution of prosodic information in spontaneously spoken utterances. A perception experiment tests to what degree prosodic information, constituent structure, and collocation frequencies interact in the perception of speech chunks. Two groups of native Estonian speakers rated spontaneously spoken utterances for the presence of disjunctures, whilst listening to these utterances (N=47N=47) or reading them (N=40N=40). The results of the corpus study reveal a rather weak correspondence between the distribution of prosodic information and boundaries of the syntactic constituents and collocations. The results of the perception experiments demonstrate a strong influence of clause boundaries on the perception of prosodic discontinuities as prosodic breaks. Thus, the results indicate that there is no direct relationship between the semantico-syntactic characteristics of utterances and the distribution of prosodic information. The percept of a prosodic break relies on the rapid recognition of constituent structure, i.e. structural information.

SPACE DISCOURSE IN A LANGUAGE CONTACT SITUATION: “US” VS. “THEM”

Multilingual practices inevitably lead to language contact phenomena. This phenomenon occurs in Estonia, where the Russian speaking minority, often defined as a Russian diaspora, differs from the socially and linguistically dominant Estonian group with respect to their language and language practices. We suggest that the analysis of one of the languages in contact, in this case Russian, allows for a deeper understanding of the role of the other, i.e. Estonian, in the multilingual practices of the Estonian population as a whole. In this paper, we will focus on “spatial indicators” (i.e. toponyms, ergonyms, linguistic landscape objects, etc.) in the discourse on space provided by participants from the Russian-speaking population living in Estonia. These sociolinguistic foci have been partially described in several existing works which underscore the influence of Estonian on the speech of the local Russian speakers. Previous research gives insights into the peculiarities that the influence of Estonian generates: in the use of toponyms, in the naming of different language landscape objects, in the everyday language practices, and in the description and evaluation of the surrounding space (i.e. in the “spatial awareness”) of the local Russian speaking population. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that the aforementioned phenomena represent a whole that reflects the development of the speakers’ apprehension of the surrounding physical, sociocultural and sociolinguistic space. This process is put into focus in this paper and is shown to be characterized by the (re)definition of space(s) as “ours” vs “theirs”. Such processes will be revealed here by giving an overview of the “spatial components” in the speech of the Russian speaking population of Estonia in several spheres of communication (newspapers, TV shows, advertisements, web forums, etc.) and by analysing interviews involving three Estonian residents, each with a different sociolinguistic background. We attempt to demonstrate how these “spatial components” reflect the interaction of Russian and Estonian speakers, with an emphasis on their affinities across certain language practices. In the analysis of the interviews, we focus in particular on the participants’ (re)definitions of “us” vs “them” in their discourse on space. Special attention is also given to the use of Estonian insertions as a tool for evaluation and the creation of the opposition between “us” and “them” in the internet communication of Russian speakers living in Estonia.

Comprehension of Ukrainian by Estonians via Russian: Structural and extra-linguistic aspects

This study explores how people use and expand their linguistic resources in the situation when they have some proficiency in L2 and try to understand L3 that is related to L2. The focus of the study is on the comprehension of Ukrainian by Estonian L1 speakers via their proficiency in Russian (L2). This situation is labeled as mediated receptive multilingualism. The aim of this research is to investigate the role of cross-linguistic similarity (objective or perceived, in the terms of Ringbom 2007) and extra-linguistic predictors of success in comprehension. In addition to measuring the success rate, we pay attention to the participant's perspective. The experiment was conducted with 30 speakers of Estonian as L1 and included a questionnaire, C-test in Russian, three Ukrainian texts with different groups of tasks, and debriefing. In this article, we focus on the task of defining Ukrainian words from the text and on debriefing interviews. The results showed that similarity, perceived or objective, is not the only decisive factor in facilitating understanding. The participants explanations confirmed our previous findings that similarity, albeit important, is only partly responsible for successful comprehension. This became clear from the debriefing interviews. In many cases, the participants' choice was affected by a range of extra-linguistic factors: general knowledge, context, exposure to various registers of Russian, M-factor, meta-linguistic awareness, and learnability. In some instances, context and general knowledge outweighed similarity. These findings show how similarity worked together with extra-linguistic factors in facilitating successful comprehension in challenging multilingual settings.

An Estonian-Russian Language Club as a Venue for Grassroots Ethnic Integration

AbstractOne third of Estonian residents identify Russian as their mother tongue, and despite having lived in Estonia for decades, many of them are not fluent in the Estonian language and choose to remain stateless rather than obtain Estonian citizenship by passing the state language exam. Ethnic segregation in Estonia continues to be a matter of bitter political debate, not least in the context of tensions with neighboring Russia and pressure from the EU to solve the problem. While a lot of state resources are being spent on what the Estonian-speaking public often perceives as vain attempts at integration of Russophones, several civil society initiatives have recently emerged to provide platforms for informal language socialization. In this article, I focus on the case study of theKeelegrupp(Language Group) which provides a venue for interaction between Estonian and Russian speakers, to analyze what makes this informal organization more successful at responding to the challenges of language-based segregation than professional, state-funded initiatives. Ethnographic documentation and analysis of this initiative is essential given that its experience and structure are highly applicable for and transferrable to many other states with similar situations of ethnic segregation, not the least the neighboring Baltic countries.

The Relationship between Ethno-Linguistic Composition of Social Networks and Activity Space: A Study Using Mobile Phone Data

This study is a contribution to the discussion on the ethnic segregation cycle, through the examination of individuals’ activity spaces—including residence and workplace—and from the perspective of social networks. Bridging social ties can be a key factor in higher minority inclusion and in breaking the vicious circle of segregation. We compare the spatial behaviour of two ethno-linguistic population groups living in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city (Estonian-speaking majority and Russian-speaking minority), each of which have co- and interethnic social networks, through the use of mobile positioning (call detail records) and call-graph data. Among our main findings, we show firstly that interethnic social networks are more common for the Russian-speaking minority population. The probability of having an interethnic network is related to the ethno-linguistic composition of the residential district concerned; districts with a higher proportion of residents from another ethnic group tend to favour interethnic networks more. Secondly, the activity space is related to the ethno-linguistic composition of the social networks. Spatial behaviour is most expansive for Estonian speakers with co-ethnic networks, and most constrained for Russian speakers with co-ethnic networks. At the same time, speakers of Estonian and Russian with interethnic networks show rather similar spatial behaviours: They tend to visit more districts where the proportion of people from the other ethno-linguistic group is higher. Interethnic networks are therefore related to spatial behaviour, which can indicate interethnic meeting points and locations, something that is regarded as being important in assimilation and segregation cycle theories.

Perceptual Asymmetries and Auditory Processing of Estonian Quantities.

Similar to visual perception, auditory perception also has a clearly described “pop-out” effect, where an element with some extra feature is easier to detect among elements without an extra feature. This phenomenon is better known as auditory perceptual asymmetry. We investigated such asymmetry between shorter or longer duration, and level or falling of pitch of linguistic stimuli that carry a meaning in one language (Estonian), but not in another (Russian). For the mismatch negativity (MMN) experiment, we created four different types of stimuli by modifying the duration of the first vowel [ɑ] (170, 290 ms) and pitch contour (level vs. falling pitch) of the stimuli words (‘SATA,’ ‘SAKI’). The stimuli were synthesized from Estonian words (‘SATA,’ ‘SAKI’) and follow the Estonian language three-way quantity system, which incorporates tonal features (falling pitch contour) together with temporal patterns. This made the meaning of the word dependent on the combination of both features and allows us to compare the relative contribution of duration and pitch contour in discrimination of language stimuli in the brain via MMN generation. The participants of the experiment were 12 Russian native speakers with little or no experience in Estonian and living in Estonia short-term, and 12 Estonian native speakers (age 18–27 years). We found that participants’ perception of the linguistic stimuli differed not only according to the physical features but also according to their native language, confirming that the meaning of the word interferes with the early automatic processing of phonological features. The GAMM and ANOVA analysis of the reversed design results showed that the deviant with longer duration among shorter standards elicited a MMN response with greater amplitude than the short deviant among long standards, while changes in pitch contour (falling vs. level pitch) produced neither strong MMN nor asymmetry. Thus, we demonstrate the effect of language background on asymmetric perception of linguistic stimuli that aligns with those of previous studies (Jaramillo et al., 2000), and contributes to the growing body of knowledge supporting auditory perceptual asymmetry.

L2 knowledge facilitating L3 learning: the role of Russian linguistic factors in understanding of Ukrainian by Estonians

This paper reports on an empirical investigation of how knowledge of L2 Russian can facilitate the acquisition of passive knowledge of L3 Ukrainian by speakers of L1 Estonian. The experiment was conducted with 30 speakers of Estonian as L1, who first filled in a sociolinguistic questionnaire, then completed a C-test in their L2 Russian, before carrying out a task testing their understanding of L3 Ukrainian words and texts, and providing some feedback in a debriefing session. We pay specific attention to the performance on the Russian C-test and how participants’ scores correlate with their results on the Ukrainian tasks. We also made an inventory of the grammatical and lexical elements that proved easy or difficult. The results show a positive correlation between the scores on the C-test and performance on the Ukrainian tasks. However, this correlation was lower for text understanding in Ukrainian than for understanding separate Ukrainian words. This suggests that a C-test score does not predict participants’ ability to understand the Ukrainian texts to a full extent, while it has better predictive value for the understanding of individual Ukrainian words. These findings suggest that learners use resources beyond just L2 lexical-grammatical knowledge in forming an understanding of texts in an L3 that is closely related to the L2. Keywords: mediated receptive multilingualism, comprehension, L3 language acquisition, C-test, Ukrainian, Russian, Estonian

Co-construction of metaphors in Estonian conversation

The study1 examines how metaphors are deliberately used in spoken interaction, taking into account their context and combining the analysis of conversational data with new developments in metaphor studies. In doing this, we present Estonian examples of extended metaphors co-constructed in the course of interaction. Steen's framework of deliberate metaphor theory (DMT) presents a useful paradigm to investigate the understudied area in a new way, especially in a language where deliberate metaphors have not yet been studied.In conversation, metaphorical creativity manifests itself in how metaphors are used and spontaneously adapted in the flow of talk (Cameron, 2007), often evoking humour in the process. Our second aim in the study has thus been to demonstrate how metaphor use overlaps with the use of humour in conversation. We suggest that metaphor-related words - central to the procedure of identifying deliberate metaphors (DMIP; see Steen, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015), and understood here as contextually embedded words which bring along potential ambiguity – serve either as indicators of cross-domain mapping, as triggers of humorous effects, or sometimes as both at the same time.Since we assume such deliberate use of metaphors, at least to some extent, contributes to the cultural communication style, as defined in the introduction to this issue, we draw attention to the ways Estonian speakers employ them. This is evident through the unique language-specific references, for example metaphors built on proverbs or phraseology.

Keeping the Result in Sight and Mind: General Cognitive Principles and Language-Specific Influences in the Perception and Memory of Resultative Events.

We study how people attend to and memorize endings of events that differ in the degree to which objects in them are affected by an action: Resultative events show objects that undergo a visually salient change in state during the course of the event (peeling a potato), and non-resultative events involve objects that undergo no, or only partial state change (stirring in a pan). We investigate general cognitive principles, and potential language-specific influences, in verbal and nonverbal event encoding and memory, across two experiments with Dutch and Estonian participants. Estonian marks a viewer's perspective on an event's result obligatorily via grammatical case on direct object nouns: Objects undergoing a partial/full change in state in an event are marked with partitive/accusative case, respectively. Therefore, we hypothesized increased saliency of object states and event results in Estonian speakers, as compared to speakers of Dutch. Findings show (a) a general cognitive principle of attending carefully to endings of resultative events, implying cognitive saliency of object states in event processing; (b) a language-specific boost on attention and memory of event results under verbal task demands in Estonian speakers. Results are discussed in relation to theories of event cognition, linguistic relativity, and thinking for speaking.

Adaption and validation of the Mississippi Aphasia Screening Test to Estonian speakers with aphasia.

ObjectivesThe Mississippi Aphasia Screening Test (MAST) is a brief screening tool for assessing the expressive and receptive language abilities of patients with aphasia. The goal of this study was to adapt and validate the MAST into the Estonian language. The discriminant validity and internal consistency of the test were examined, as well as its sensitivity and specificity.MethodsThe MASTest was administered in 50 left hemisphere stroke patients with aphasia (LHA+ group) in the acute phase after the stroke and 126 healthy volunteers in a control group (CG), stratified by age and level of education. Nonparametric tests were used to get normative values, compare the values of the MASTest scores between the LHA+ group and the CG, and to assess the discriminant validity, internal consistency, sensitivity, and specificity of the MASTest.ResultsThe summary scores: total score (MASTest‐T), expressive score (MASTest‐E), and receptive score (MASTest‐R) correlated with age and educational level, and the normative values were adjusted accordingly. The LHA+ group showed more impairment than the CG in all subtests and summary scores. The internal reliability of the MASTest was high for the whole sample and LHA+ group. The sensitivity and specificity of the MASTest using the 5th percentile were 74% and 94%, respectively, but using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, it was 89% and 80%.ConclusionThe MASTest is a valid screening tool for evaluating expressive and receptive language abilities in Estonian patients with aphasia in early stroke. The MASTest is the first validated aphasia screening test for Estonian‐speaking people, who number less than one million worldwide.

Context-dependent articulation of consonant gemination in Estonian

The three-way quantity system is a well-known phonological feature of Estonian. In a number of studies it has been shown that quantity is realized in a disyllabic foot by the stressed-to-unstressed syllable rhyme duration ratio and also by pitch movement as the secondary cue. The stressed syllable rhyme duration is achieved by combining the length of the vowel and the coda consonant, which enables minimal septets of CVCV-sequences based on segmental duration. In this study we analyze articulatory (EMA) recordings from four native Estonian speakers producing all possible quantity combinations of intervocalic bilabial stops in two vocalic contexts (/ɑ-i/ vs. /i-ɑ/). The analysis shows that kinematic characteristics (gesture duration, spatial extent, and peak velocity) are primarily affected by quantity on the segmental level: Phonologically longer segments are produced by longer and larger lip closing gestures and, in reverse, shorter and smaller lip opening movements. Tongue transition gesture is consistently lengthened and slowed down by increasing consonant quantity. In general, both kinematic characteristics and inter-gestural coordination are influenced by non-linear interactions between segmental quantity levels as well as vocalic context.

Effect of voicing on perceptual auditory laterality in Estonian and Norwegian native speakers

ABSTRACTAs a reliable and valid measures of perceptual auditory laterality, dichotic listening has been successfully applied in studies in many countries and languages. However, languages differ in the linguistic relevance of change in initial phoneme of words (e.g., for word identification). In the present cross-language study, we examine the effect of these differences on dichotic-listening task performance to establish how characteristics of one's native language affect the perception of nonnative phonological features. We compared 33 native speakers of Norwegian, a language characterized by a clear distinction between voiced and unvoiced initial plosive consonants, with 30 native speakers of Estonian, a language that has exclusively unvoiced initial phonemes. Using a free-report dichotic-listening paradigm utilizing pairs of voiced (/ba/, /da/, /ga/) and unvoiced (/pa/, /ta/, /ka/) stop-consonant vowels as stimulus material, the Norwegian native speakers were found to be more sensitive to the voicing of the initial plosive than the Estonian group. “Voicing” explained 69% and 18% of the variance in the perceptual auditory laterality in the Norwegian and the Estonian sample, respectively. This indicates that experiential differences, likely during acquisition of the mother tongue in early development, permanently shape the sensitivity to the voicing contrast.

Helppoa vai vaikeaa arvioida? Yleisten kielitutkintojen suomen kielen arvioijien käsityksiä vironkielisten arvioinnista

Finnish raters’ beliefs about assessing Estonian speakers in a Finnish language test: easy or difficult? This paper aims to contribute to our understanding on rater beliefs and views and to promote transparency in rater’s work in the form of reflection. The paper focuses on professional Finnish raters’ beliefs and views of assessing L1 Estonian speakers in the criteria-referenced Finnish language test of the National Certifi- cates of Language Proficiency test system. Finnish raters (N = 27) were asked via email to shortly reflect on what they find easy and what difficult in rating Estonian speakers’ writing and speaking skills in the Finnish language test. The raters reflected on many issues which may or may not have direct influence in their rating thus bringing about assessment issues relating to reliability and validity: rating influenced by views and beliefs outside the established CEFR-based criteria. Content analysis was used to classify and organize the answers. Rater views highlighted the closeness of Estonian and Finnish cultures and language relations, which had both positive and negative impact on their attitudes. The raters regarded this closeness as a merit in that the test tasks and instructions were often easily understandable by the candidates and that the candidates appeared to be trained to taking tests, i.e. had considerable test-taking skills compared to candidates from more distant cultures. As the two languages are closely related, there is also considerable overlap between them, hence the raters pointed out that it was at times difficult to identify whether the candidates were speaking or writing Finnish or Estonian and more importantly whether this influences and should influence their assessment or not. There was negative interference in particular in words, idioms and grammar but in general mistakes made by these candidates were often minor and did not impede understanding. An unsolved issue from the rating perspective was the fact that raters could understand the candidates even though it was not clear which of the two languages was in use. While at the same time individual mistakes were not the focus in assessment but rather understanding the candidate product, the raters wished to point out this fairness issue in rating the skills in a language. The raters generally considered the candidate products easy to read and listen to, thus a common assessment criterion, fluency was usually fulfilled.

Estonian as a heritage language in Sweden: Acoustic and perceptual characteristics of the quantity system

This paper studies the Estonian three-way phonological quantity distinction by second-generation Swedish Estonians. Production of the three phonological quantities has been measured in informal interviews with four speakers, all active members of the Estonian exile community. Comparisons with native Estonians show that three of the four Swedish Estonians had retained the length difference between quantity 2 and 3 in all disyllabic word types. All four displayed native-like pitch contours while two were somewhat inconsistent. The same speakers and four additional ones were then tested for perception of the quantities with re-synthesized speech stimuli. For Estonians in Estonia the temporal cue and the pitch cue are effective in combination, while the Swedish Estonian group shows extensive variability. Some speakers only display the effect of the temporal cue, similarly to fluent Estonian L2 speakers. Others have reduced the three-way system to a binary one. In this pilot study we can thus observe either incomplete acquisition in a foreign environment or language attrition in the first Swedish-born generation.

External factors and the interference of L1 Estonian on L2 English pronunciation: An apparent-time study

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5128/ERYa11.02 This study focusses on external factors of second language learning (L2) and their effect on L2 sound production. The aim was to find out whether young adults whose first language (L1) is Estonian speak L2 English with less accent than older speakers of L1 Estonian. Prior studies have claimed that more exposure to the target language lessens the effect of L1 interference (internal factors) (e.g. Piske et al. 2001, Munoz, Llanes 2014). An apparent-time study was imple- mented in order to test whether a change in learner setting (i.e. limited exposure to the target language vs. abundant exposure) shows any evidence which can be explained by such external factors. Data was elicited from the speech samples of 97 speakers of L1 Estonian and L1 interference effects were analysed sound by sound. The results show that the younger generation displays less L1 Estonian interference than the older generation. Both greater exposure to the target language and earlier age of L2 learning onset correlate with the ability to produce more sounds target-like.

Emerging ELF as an intercultural resource: language attitudes and ideologies

Abstract This article discusses the possibility of English becoming a lingua franca in Estonia. It builds on Laitin's (1996) observations regarding the fact that English would become the country's language of inter-group communication among Estonian and Russian speakers. By providing ethnographically collected data and discussing it from the paradigm of language ideologies, the present article clarifies some of Laitin's original observations. While it appears that English has not become a lingua franca in Estonia, this possibility works in given circumstances, even if just sporadically, in order to help solving possible communicative obstacles. It is therefore argued that ELF is actually an extra resource, a tool that speakers can make use of if needed.