Estonianlanguage

Estonian language, or eesti keel, is a Finnic language of the Uralic family. It is the official language of Estonia and is spoken by about 1.1 to 1.2 million people, primarily in Estonia, with diaspora communities in Finland, Sweden, Russia, Canada, and the United States. It is used in education, government, media, and daily communication.

Linguistically, Estonian belongs to the Finnic subgroup and is closely related to Finnish and Karelian. It is an agglutinative language with a rich inflectional system and a notable case system. It has no grammatical gender and tends to rely on case markings and word order for meaning. The language generally follows a subject–verb–object order, though word order is relatively flexible due to the case system. Estonian features phonemic length for vowels and consonants and utilizes a Latin-based writing system.

Orthography uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics such as ä, ö, ü, and õ. Spelling is largely phonemic, reflecting pronunciation. The orthographic standard was developed and refined in the 19th and 20th centuries and remains in use in education, media, and official communication.

Dialects and standard form: The main dialect groups are Northern Estonian and Southern Estonian, with regional varieties such as Võro and Seto. Standard Estonian is based largely on the Northern dialects and serves as the basis for education, broadcasting, and official use, while dialects continue to be spoken in communities and local media.

History and status: Estonian has medieval attestations and evolved through the influences of various ruling powers. Standardization occurred largely during the 19th and early 20th centuries, with renewed development after Estonia regained independence in 1991. It is one of the official languages of the European Union.