Linguistics - Estonian Roots: Centre of Excellence

The linguistics research group is based at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics of the University of Tartu. It brings together linguists whose research includes less described and less understood areas of grammar and grammar history in Uralic languages (e.g. origin, function and development of modal particles and discourse organizing markers in minor Uralic languages). We also research systematically structural and lexical changes which varieties of Estonian, Livonian and other Finnic languages have undergone in the Baltic linguistic area. To achieve this, we employ the possibilities of new databases like UraTyp and Grambank. We are especially interested in contact-induced changes, their dynamics, consequences and explanatory potential in the history of local groups. 

As a result, the understanding of distance between Estonian, other Finnic languages and their eastern sister languages will increase. Also, it will increase the understanding of development processes which led to the differences. The new results in these research domains serve also to improve the above-named databases and, in the long run, develop a data-driven method, in which typological and historical information can be handled together.