Essay: Language policy in Estonia

The question of language policy in Estonia is very painful and causes much controversy. There is no doubt that the titulerede nation in the Republic of Estonian language has an important symbolic value. The special status and special role recognized also by the minority, but many are dissatisfied with etablerende rules and regulations, if have in terms of protecting the Estonian language. The question of language policy in Estonia is central, it is also approved by the European community. The split of Estonian society is a recognized fact and the gap between the two major groups, Estonians and Russians, passing through the mother tongue. According to the last census (2000) and the latest information from local authorities, Estonian mother tongue of 68.7% and Russian for 24.8% of the total population (http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/country/population-census- 2011.html, retrieved 01.07.2015). At the same time the language of almost 1/3 of the population no official status. There is no secret that the vigtiste purpose of the Estonian language policy is a comprehensive strengthening and extending the scope of the Estonian (https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/506112013016/consolide, retrieved 07.01.2015). But Estonia is a bilingual country, so we can assume that the outcome of such a policy would be a weakening of the Russian language. This task is dependent to investigate and describe the conditions and circumstances which have formed the Estonian language policy after 1991, and notes the impact of these rules on the Russian-speaking population in practice.
Historical reference
All areas in today’s Estonia was conquered by German and Danish crusaders in the 13th century. At this time, Estonia is not an independent state system. Later, the Estonian lands a part of Livonia – conglomerate. After the Livonian War (1558 – 1583), Estonia was divided between Poland, Denmark and Sweden. The latter became sole owner of all Estonian land, which departed for Russia after the Great Northern War (1700-1721). The Bolshevik government recognized the independence of Estonia in 1920. In the period from 1940 to 1991 was the Republic of part of the Soviet Union. Sew centuries controlled the German landowners all areas of public life in Estonia, despite very frequent changes of the supreme authority. German was vigtiste language in education and business practices until the late 19th century, when it was replaced by Russian. After incorporation (according to Russia’s official opinion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32X_FxR4KZg)) or occupation (Estonian official claim (http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/history/22-september -1944-from-one-occupation-to-another.html)) and western observations (http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/estonia/estonia93o.pdf, p.4) of Estonia regained Russian its status as the official language of the entire Soviet territory. The increasing use of the Russian language and the low level of esters among the fast-growing non – native population has caused concern among Estonians for mother tongue fate, as always perceived as one of the most important elements of identity (Gellner,). Until 1991, when Estonia regained its independence, bilingualism was observed almost exclusively for members of the Estonian population. With the adoption of the law in 1989 on the Estonian language was first established professional language requirements (). While Estonia was still part of the Soviet Union, the adoption of the language law clearly had the character of protecting the language of the indigenous population. But after addiction got the Estonian language policy obviously other task ().
Demographic reference
As was Estonia’s first independence in 1920 consists population the vast majority of esters – almost 90% (Poleshchuk, 2009 :). After the second World War, felt a certain lack of manpower, which intensified in the implementation of major industrial projects and in part because of Stalin’s repression (http://folkedrab.dk/sw53327.asp).