Johannes Aavik
Johannes Aavik (pseudonyms J. Randvere, J. Sanglepp); 8. XII / 26. XI 1880 – 18. III 1973) is known primarily as a productive reformer of the Estonian language. He was also a linguist, translator, critic and commentator on current affairs.
Aavik was born in the village of Randvere in Saaremaa, the son of a local government clerk. Between 1888 and 1902 he attended various private, sacristan (Küsterschule) and primary schools in Kuressaare. At Kuressaare gymnasium Aavik developed his interest in his mother tongue. He took part in the writing of the publication Nooreestlane (‘The Young Estonian’). In 1902-1903 he studied classical languages at the University of Tartu. He spent the next two years at the Nizhyn Institute in Ukraine, from where he transferred to the University of Helsinki. In 1908 he qualified as a French teacher, and in 1910 he graduated in Romance philology, Finnish language and literature and folklore from the University of Helsinki. He worked as a language teacher in Yalta, Tartu and Kuressaare. From 1912 to 1914 he worked in the editorial office of Postimees in Tartu. From 1926 to 1934 he was lecturer of Estonian language at the University of Tartu and a teacher of Latin and Estonian at Tartu Girls’ Gymnasium. From 1934 to 1940 he was chief inspector of schools in Tallinn. In 1938 he was awarded the Order of the White Star, III Class, and in 1940 became an honorary member of the Estonian Literary Society. With the coming of Soviet power, Aavik was retired. During the German occupation he was a teacher in Tallinn, and did translating and editing of textbooks. In August 1944 he fled to Sweden in the face of the new Soviet occupation, and worked at the chair of Finno-Ugric languages at the University of Uppsala. In 1945 he settled in Stockholm, where he worked as an archivist, translator, and author of articles on language and of school textbooks. In exile he continued his diverse cultural activities and language reform work. From 1960 to 1962 he was a member of the mission at the Estonian National Congress in Sweden. He died in Stockholm and was buried at the Skogskyrkogården Cemetery there. In 1992 the Johannes Aavik Society was established at Nõmme in Tallinn, and in the same year the Johannes and Joosep Aavik House Museum was opened at Aavik’s parental home in Kuressaare (Johannes Aavik’s cousin Joosep was a musician and critic).
Aavik belonged to the Noor-Eesti (Young Estonia) grouping, in which he was an active contributor to their albums (writings on language, translations of poetry and prose, literary criticism, essays). In the third Noor-Eesti album the essay-novel Ruth (1909) appeared under the pseudonym J. Randvere. Of his critical works, those that appeared separately as books are important: Eesti luule viletsused (‘Weaknesses in Estonian Poetry’, 1915) and Puudused uuemas eesti luules (‘Shortcomings in Modern Estonian Poetry’, 1921), which demonstrate Aavik’s normative attitude to poetics.
But Aavik’s chief merit in Estonia’s cultural history is the language reform he initiated and led, the aim of which was to shape the Estonian language to be the equal of the old cultural languages of Europe. Aavik propagated the enforced development of the literary language and the aesthetic principle for the language. He set out the basic theses for language reform in 1912, in the fourth Noor-Eesti album, with the article Tuleviku Eesti-keel (‘The Estonian Language of the Future’). The proposals he presented for reform embraced enriching the vocabulary, diversifying the morphology and Estonicizing the syntax. What was important was that Aavik regulated the use of abbreviated sentences and rejected excessive use of German word order. Aavik propagated his proposed reforms in many publications – Keeleline kuukiri (‘The Language Monthly’, 1914-1916), Keeleuuendus (‘Language Reform’, 1925-1926), Keelelise Uuenduse Kirjastik (‘Language Reform Papers’, 1914-1926) etc. What may be regarded as Aavik’s major grammatical work was Eesti õigekeelsuse õpik ja grammatika (‘Textbook and Grammar of Estonian Orthology’, 1936). His last substantial work was the introduction to P. F. Saagpakk’s Estonian-English dictionary (New Haven, London: 1982).
Aavik also introduced the reformed Estonian language in translations from world literature: a series of crime, fantastical and horror stories Hirmu ja õuduse jutud (‘Tales of Fear and Horror’, 1914-1928, 24 volumes), Paul Bourget’s novel Le Disciple (1936), E. A. Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1938), and others. Aavik also translated Finnish (J. Aho, M. Waltari), French (G. de Maupassant, P. Mérimée), English (W. S. Maugham) and Russian (I. Turgenev, A. Pushkin) literature.
He also published articles on nationality policy, which are collected in the publication Rahvustunde nõrkusest Eestis (‘On the Weakness of National Sentiment in Estonia’, 1988).
Assessments of Aavik’s work have been contradictory. Some of his theoretical views on language have subsequently been pronounced unfounded by other linguists and writers, but his practical activity has been very influential. Many of the grammatical changes he suggested have come into circulation and more than thirty of the words he artificially constructed are in active use, such as laip (‘corpse’), mõrv (‘murder’), laup (‘brow’), rünk (‘crag’), meenutama (‘remind’), embama (’embrace’), veenma (‘convince’).
A. N. (Translated by C. M.)
Works in Estonian
Writings on language, literature and society
Keele kaunima kõlavuse poole. Tartu: Eesti Kirjastuse-Ühisuse “Postimehe” kirjastus, 1913, 36 lk.
Mõned keele reeglid: Nõuded ja soowid. Tartu: Noor-Eesti, 1913, 23 lk.
-line ja -lik lõpulised omadussõnad: Katse -lik -line korralagedust korraldada. Jurjew: Eesti Kirjanduse kirjastus, 1914, 50 lk.
Eesti rahvusliku suurteose keel. Tartu: Reform, 1914, 51 lk.
Kas uuendada või mitte?: 28 väidet ja vastuväidet J. V. Veskile. Tartu: Noor-Eesti, 1914, 38 lk.
Eesti luule viletsused. Paljastanud Joh. Aavik. Jurjev: Noor-Eesti, 1915, 34 lk.
Katsed ja näited. Koguke keeleproovidena tõlgitud novelle ühes pikema keelelise sissejuhatusega. 1-3. Tõlkinud ja kokku seadnud Joh. Aavik. Jurjev: Reform, 1915-1916, 95+48+16 lk.
Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Johannes Aavik, Parandatud Kalevipoeg. I. Eessõna: Johannes Aavik. Tartu: Reform, 1916, 33 lk.
Mis on keeleuuendus?: Ta põhjendus ja ta program. Tartu: Reform, 1916, 38 lk.
Eesti keele ortograafia. Tartu: Tartu Kommertskool, 1918, 47 lk.
Uute sõnade sõnastik. Tartu: Istandik, 1919, 78 lk.
Valik rahvalaule. Valind ja seletavate lisade ning sõnastikuga varustand Johannes Aavik. Tartu: Istandik, 1919, 240 lk. [2. trükk: ‘Eesti rahvalaule: koolidele ja üldsusele’, Tartu: Noor-Eesti, 1935, 170 lk; 3. trükk: ‘Eesti rahvalaule‘, New York: Eesti Kultuurifond, 1970, 168 lk.]
Kas ü või y? Y!. Tartu: Istandik, 1920, 7 lk.
Rahvamurded ja kirjakeel: õigekeelsuse kysimus rahvamurdes ja kirjakeeles. Tartu: Istandik, 1920, 35 lk.
Puudused uuemas eesti luules. Tartu: Eesti Kirjanduse Selts, 1921, 170 lk.
Uute ja vähem tuntud sõnade sõnastik. Tallinn: A. Keisermann, 1921, 160 lk.
Kirjavahemärkide õpetus: ühes lühikese lauseõpetusega, harjutusülesannetega ja nende võtmega. Koolidele ja iseõppimiseks kokku seadnud Joh. Aavik. Tartu: Istandik, 1923, 58 lk. [2., täiendatud trükk: Tartu: Istandik, 1927, 62 lk.]
Keeleuuenduse äärmised võimalused. Tartu: Istandik, 1924, 174 lk. [2. trükk: Stockholm: [s. n.], 1974, 174 lk.]
Eesti omapärane kultuur ja rahvuslikud pahed. Tartu: Istandik, 1927, 16 lk. [2. trükk: Tallinn: Johannes Aaviku Selts, 2010, 44 lk.]
Sada uut tyvisõna. Tallinn: Istandik, 1932, 32 lk.
Keeleline käsiraamat: uuenduste ning ametliku ja uuendusliku keele erinevuste tundmaõppimiseks. Tartu, Tallinn: Istandik, 1932, 60 lk.
Kuidas suhtuda “Kalevipojale”: “Kalevipoja” arvustus keelelises, värsitehnilises, stiililises ja sisulises suhtes. Tallinn, Tartu: Istandik, 1933, 36 lk.
Eesti õigekeelsuse õpik ja grammatika. Koostanud Johannes Aavik. Tartu: Noor-Eesti, 1936, 464 lk.
Võitlus halva keele vastu ja suundumine parema keele poole. Tartu: Noor-Eesti, 1936, 4 lk.
Eesti keele praegune seisund ja väljavaated. Varamu, nr. 7, 1939, lk 745-761.
Rahvustunde nõrkusest Eestis: eri aastate kirjutisi. Tallinn: Perioodika (Loomingu Raamatukogu), 1988, 52 lk.
Ideepe: Johannes Aaviku ideede päevik. Väljaande koostaja ja peatoimetaja, eesti- ja ingliskeelse saatesõna autor Helgi Vihma. Tallinn: TEA Kirjastus, 2010, 739 lk.
Diaries, correspondence
Johannes Aavik, Friedebert Tuglas, Kultuurilugu kirjapeeglis: Johannes Aaviku & Friedebert Tuglase kirjavahetus. Koostanud ja kommenteerinud Helgi Vihma. Tallinn: Valgus, 1990, 168 lk.
Päevaraamat: 1916-1929. Koostanud ja kommenteerinud Olavi Pesti. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2014, 310 lk.
Prose
J. Randvere, Ruth. – Noor-Eesti, 3. album. Tartu: Noor-Eesti, 1909. lk 18-74. [Järgnevad trükid: Tallinn, Perioodika (Loomingu Raamatukogu), 1980, 80 lk; Tallinn: Johannes Aaviku Selts, 2000, 61 lk (lühendanud ja eessõna: Mati Unt).]
