Rääkija

Rääkija is an Estonian term meaning narrator or speaker. It is formed from the verb rääkima, “to speak” or “to tell,” with the agent noun suffix -ja, which denotes a person who performs the action. In everyday language rääkija can refer to a person who speaks or tells something, a speaker or storyteller.

In literary studies, rääkija designates the narrator—the voice that relates the story to the reader. The rääkija may be first-person, speaking as "I" or "we," or third-person, recounting events from a focalized perspective. Critics differentiate the rääkija from the author and from the characters within the story, noting that the chois of narrator can influence reliability, perspective, and interpretation.

Narrative analysis often considers factors such as reliability, access to characters’ inner thoughts, and the degree of narrative distance or proximity associated with the rääkija. The concept helps describe how information is presented, how much the reader knows about events, and how mood and meaning are shaped by the voice telling the tale.

In education and discourse analysis, rääkija is used to discuss who is presenting information and through what lens, whether in fiction, non-fiction, or spoken discourse. Related terms include narrator, narrative voice, unreliable narrator, and point of view.