Epilogue

Abstract

This volume opens with an introduction that identifies two cross-cutting borders in research in Estonian language policy and planning, the temporal border that positions Estonia in a post-Soviet frame, and the geographic border that positions Estonia as a Baltic state in an international arena. In this epilogue I step back and take a wider view, in the other direction, to explore the overall impact of Soviet language policies that have led to the current decentering. The repositioning and decentering processes, as described in several of the previous chapters, have increased the number of language communities in dialogue with Estonian speakers. Estonian is situated in relation not only to Russian, but also to Finnish, Swedish and German. And, although Estonian is a majority language for the country, it is, yet again, a minority language in the modern globalized economy, a world that relies increasingly on English as a global lingua franca. We should thus reconceptualize the sense of core and periphery in the cascading effect of languages with differing levels of global, international and regional influence, as represented by English, Russian and, for example, Swedish. Estonian is a minority language in each of these relationships, but differs in the local dynamics involving size of speaker population, international reach, power and prestige.