Johannes Aavik

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Johannes Aavik
Fennophile

Johannes Aavik (8 December [

Fennophile who played an influential role in the modernization and development of the Estonian language.[1]

Early life and education

Aavik was born in

Soviet occupation
in 1944 and lived in Stockholm for the remainder of his life.

Estonian language development

Johannes Aavik found that Estonian, which had for centuries been the language of peasants, needed innovation, as its sphere of usage widened rapidly with the emergence of a modern nation. There was a need for standardization of grammar and orthography as well as new technical terminology. Aavik added that the language also needed to be versatile and euphonic. In 1912 he started writing articles to literary journals, making proposing ways to develop the Estonian language. He suggested intensive borrowing from Finnish; many of his suggestions were quickly widely accepted and have become part of standard

neologisms as created out of nothing (see ex nihilo lexical enrichment). However, according to Ghil'ad Zuckermann, many of Aavik's neologisms were influenced by foreign lexical items, for example words from Russian, German, French, Finnish, English and Swedish (Aavik had a broad classical education and knew Ancient Greek, Latin and French).[3] For example, roim ("crime") might have been influenced by the English word crime; relv ("weapon") might have been influenced by the English word revolver; and taunima ("to condemn, disapprove") might have been influenced by the Finnish word tuomita ("to condemn, to judge").[3]

Aavik even tried to modernize the grammar. He advocated the usage of i-plural instead of t(d)-plural (keelis pro keeltes) and the i-superlative instead of the ordinary superlative (suurim pro kõige suurem), as well as –nd instead of –nud in the active past participle. He proposed inflectional affixes to the ma-infinitive, but only some of them entered into popular usage. He also tried to introduce a future form of verbs and a female personal pronoun, but these got little positive response.

Aavik published numerous essays and translations to propagate his ideas; he had vocal supporters as well as opponents. In 1919, he published a dictionary of 2000 novelty words. His principles (utility, aesthetics and native quality) were summarized in Keeleuuenduse äärmised võimalused (Extreme Perspectives of Language Innovation; Tartu, 1924).

Language innovation slowly died away after the 1927 act that made it compulsory for schools to teach standard Estonian as put down in the Estonian Orthographic Dictionary (1925, chief editor Johannes Voldemar Veski) and Estonian Grammar (by Elmar Muuk, 1927). However, some words proposed by Aavik and fallen into oblivion have been picked up and re-introduced by more recent literati.

An essay on linguistic innovation in Estonian by Paul Saagpakk can be found in his Estonian–English Dictionary.

Death and legacy

Aavik died in Stockholm, Sweden. On 26 September 1992 in Tallinn, the Johannes Aavik Society was established. The society focuses on research of Estonian language and especially on those language aspects which are related to Johannes Aavik. The society has 107 members. The society publishes the publication "Keeleuuenduse Kirjastik".[4]

References

  1. ^ Toivo Miljan, Historical Dictionary of Estonia, Scarecrow Press 2004
  2. George Allen & Unwin
    , London, 1943, p. 1.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1403917232 [1]
    , pp. 149-150.
  4. ISBN 9985701410
    .

Further reading

  • Antoine Chalvin. Johannes Aavik et la rénovation de la langue estonienne. Paris: ADEFO/L'Harmattan, 2010. 334 p.
  • Virve Raag. The Effects of Planned Change on Estonian Morphology. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Uralica Upsaliensia, 29. Uppsala, 1998. 156 p.

External links
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