| title: | Changes in the grammatical system of Estonian: a usage-based analysis of language change and its reasons |
|---|---|
| reg no: | ETF6510 |
| project type: | Estonian Science Foundation research grant |
| status: | accepted |
| institution: | University of Tartu |
| head of project: | Ilona Tragel |
| duration: | 01.01.2005 - 31.12.2008 |
| description: | The aim of the research programme is to analyse and explain changes in the Estonian grammatical system. The data will be derived mostly from spoken language, including child language, but also from uses combining elements of spoken and written language: Internet forums, e-mails, text messages. The analysis will focus on instances of grammaticalisation which are not related to particular channels of communication. Usages commonly regarded as mistakes in written language provide another rich source of data, if studied not from a normative perspective but rather with the aim of finding out something about the functional motivation behind such mistakes – why the mistakes are being made. Mistakes, too, may be related to more general developments in language or even to cognitive or psychological universals underlying the way we understand and talk about the world. The results will be presented at conferences and published in refereed linguistic journals. While the data are especially relevant for Estonian researchers and language planners, they are likely to be of interest also to the international research community, particularly from the perspective of grammaticalisation theory. |
| project group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no | name | institution | position | |
| 1. | Külli Habicht | University of Tartu | associate professor (0,5); senior researcher (0,5) | |
| 2. | Leelo Keevallik | Uppsala Ülikool | researcher | |
| 3. | Liina Lindström | University of Tartu | research fellow | |
| 4. | Pire Teras | University of Tartu | research fellow | |
| 5. | Ilona Tragel | University of Tartu | research fellow extraordinaria | |
| 6. | Ann Veismann | University of Tartu | PhD student | |