Typological shift in Estonian and Southern Finnic (ESTTYP)
Dissemination
Events
2025
29 April
Karl Pajusalu and Uldis Balodis participated in work conducted by the Mulgi Dictionary Group at the Heimtali Museum (a division of the Estonian National Museum) in Heimtali, Viljandi County. The dictionary group was working with the esteemed textile artist and scholar Anu Raud in order to record Mulgi vocabulary associated with knitting and traditional textile patterns. The photos show the Mulgi Dictionary Group with Anu Raud as well as the outside of the Heimtali Museum. (Photos: Uldis Balodis)
28 April
Uldis Balodis met with members of the non-profit organization Hõimulõimed and spoke to them about Lutsi language, culture, and history and his work with Lutsi and Livonian. Hõimulõimed is an NGO representing the younger generation of the Finno-Ugric movement in Estonia.
25 April
Karl Pajusalu discussed the history of books in the native languages of historical Livonia — Estonian, Latvian, and Livonian — and the development of written Livonian on both sides of the Gulf of Rīga in his article “The missals of Livonia and the Livonian written language” (Liivimaa missaraamatud ja liivi kirjakeel) in the cultural weekly Sirp.
25 April
Karl Pajusalu discussed the revival of Salaca Livonian in Vidzeme on the occasion of the unveiling of the first official bilingual sign in Salaca Livonian and Latvian — located at the Aģe River — in his article “Reviving Livonian heritage in Livonia” (Liivi pärandi äratamine Liivimaal) in the cultural weekly Sirp. (Photo: Renate Pajusalu, from Sirp)
31 March
Project member Uldis Balodis was interviewed by Aleksi Palokangas of Sukukansojen ystävät – a non-governmental organization promoting knowledge of Uralic nations in Finland – for their journal Alkukoti. Balodis spoke about the history of his work with Livonian and Lutsi as well as Latvia’s Finnic identity and heritage. In this interview, Balodis also mentioned the work of the current ETAG project (From East to West: Typological shift in Estonian and the Southern Finnic languages against the background of Uralic) and is featured on the cover of this year’s Alkukoti. (Image: Sukukansojen ystävät)
22 February
Karl Pajusalu was named an honorary citizen of Kihnu Island at a ceremony on the island in recognition of his years-long work on the Kihnu language, which, in addition to research and writing on the Kihnu language, has included work on compiling the Kihnu language dictionary and the creation of Kihnu language learning materials.
2024
26 July – 4 August
Project members participated in different capacities in the 4th Livonian Summer University, which was organized by the University of Latvia Livonian Institute in Kuoštrõg (Košrags) village on the Livonian Coast in northwestern Latvia. Miina Norvik was the Livonian language teacher for the advanced level student group. Karl Pajusalu and Uldis Balodis lectured at the university including on topics relating to the project. Janek Vaab attended the summer university as a student in order to deepen his knowledge of Livonian. The project members also conducted fieldwork on the Livonian Coast and worked with heritage speakers of Livonian who also participated in the summer university in an advisory capacity.
4 May
Project members Karl Pajusalu and Uldis Balodis accompanied by their colleague linguist Santeri Junttila conducted fieldwork at sites in the historical Leivu region in northeastern Latvia as well as in regions further to the south near Cesvaine and Lake Lubāns, which may be the location of other undocumented Finnic populations due to the presence of place names with a form or meaning possibly connected to Estonians (for more on these place names see here and for more on Finnic-like features in Latvian subdialects see here).
25 February
Project members Karl Pajusalu and Miina Norvik spoke about the current ETAG project (Idast läände: eesti keele ja lõuna-läänemeresoome keelte tüpoloogiline muutumine uurali taustal / From East to West: Typological shift in Estonian and the Southern Finnic languages against the background of Uralic) and the new Estonian Roots: Centre of Excellence for transdisciplinary studies on ethnogenesis and cultural diversity in an interview on the ERR program “Vikerraadio”. Listen to the interview here. (Photo of Karl Pajusalu taken from the Vikerraadio website.)
Popular scientific articles
2025
Saar, Eva (2025). tatti ni uppa. Kilstakõisi seto sõnaraamatust. Setomaa, 9 (430), 9.
Saar, Eva (2025). nõsaraq ni ollõteräq. Kilstakõisi seto sõnaraamatust. Setomaa, 10 (431), 10.
Header image: Pilda Lutsi field notes recorded by Guna Pence from Antonīna Nikonova in Jāni külä (Lielie Tjapši), Latvia, 1972. (Source: University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art Archives of Latvian Folklore)
