Estonian, Standard
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A language of Estonia
1,050,000 in Estonia (European Commission 2012), including 1,290 speakers of Northeastern Coastal Estonian dialects, 26,800 speakers of North Estonian dialects (24,500 island dialects, 770 eastern dialects, 210 central dialects, and 1,280 western dialects), and 13,800 speakers of South Estonian dialects (9,700 Mulgi and 4,110 Tartu) (2011 census). Total users in all countries: 1,157,640.
1 (National). Statutory national language (1992, Constitution, Article 52(1)).
Tallinn (Northern Estonian, Reval), Tartu (Dorpat, Southern Estonian), Mulgi. Dialects are grouped into three groups: Northeastern Coastal Estonian (between Tallinn and Narva), North Estonian (island, western, central, and eastern dialects), and South Estonian (Mulgi, Tartu). All the other dialects are assimilated into Standard Estonian. Standard Estonian is based mostly on North Estonian dialects. Mulgi and Tartu are generally regarded as separate linguistic entities somewhere between Võro [vro] and Standard Estonian. Related to Vod [vot] and Finnish [fin]. A member of macrolanguage Estonian [est].
SVO; 14 cases: affixes indicate case of noun phrases; verb affixes mark person, number of subject, and agreement (obligatory); genitives, adjectives, numerals before noun heads; question word initial; word order distinguishes given and new information; active and passive voice; 4 moods in both voices: indicative, imperative, conditional, oblique; 2 infinitives for all verbs; 4 tenses in both voices and all moods: present, past, perfect, pluperfect; 3 degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, superlative; stress on first syllable; possible secondary stress on third syllable; non-tonal.
Fully developed. Bible: 1739–1995.
Some linguistic influences from Russian [rus], German [deu], Swedish [swe], Latvian [lav], Lithuanian [lit], and Finnish [fin]. Christian.