This article examines the use of the particles jah and jaa 'yes' as minimal responses to requests for confirmation in ordinary spoken interaction among Estonian-speaking youth aged 10-13. Previous research on adult spoken interaction has shown that although both jah and jaa confirm the accuracy of the proposition presented in the question, the particles are not functionally equivalent. The analysis demonstrates that both the structure of question-answer sequences and the distribution of jah and jaa in youth interaction differ from adult conversational norms. First, jaa occurs significantly more frequently than jah in the youth data (59 vs. 9 occurrences, 87%), whereas in adult interaction, jah is slightly more frequent than jaa. Second, no systematic functional distinction between the two particles emerges in the youth corpus. One difference concerns the attitudinal stance of the question. Jah is used similarly to adult interaction, occurring in response to both neutral and non-neutral questions. In contrast, jaa occurs more frequently in response to neutral than to stance-marked questions in youth interaction, indicating a neutralization of its function. A further difference concerns sequence organization. In adult conversations, after jah, the local sequence is closed, while after jaa, the sequence is expanded by the questioner. In the youth data, however, neither particle reliably predicts sequence closure or continuation. These differences canbe interpreted in two ways. One explanation is developmental: the youth may not yet have fully acquired the pragmatic norms governing the respective particle use. Another possibility would be ongoing language change, whereby the functional distinctions between jah and jaa would be neutralized, with jaa expanding at the expense of jah.

Artiklis analüüsitakse 10–13-aastaste noorte vastuspartiklite jah ja jaa kasutust kinnitusküsimuse minimaalvastusena ning võrreldakse tulemusi täiskasvanute suhtlusnormidega. Analüüs näitab, et noorte suulistes vestlustes on jaa märksa sagedasem kui jah, moodustades 87% vastustest, täiskasvanute materjalis oli seevastu rohkem jah-vastuseid. Lisaks puudub noortekeeles nende partiklite kasutuses süsteemne erinevus. Erinevalt täiskasvanute vestlustest kasutatakse mõlemaid partikleid nii neutraalse kui ka hoiakulise küsimuse vastusena ning kumbki partikkel ei juhi järjendi jätkamist ega lõpetamist. Sellist erinevust täiskasvanute keelest võib seletada asjaolu, et noored ei ole veel omandanud kahe vastuspartikli kasutamise pragmaatilisi norme, aga tegu võib olla ka keele muutumisega, mida noorte partiklikasutus peegeldab: vastuspartiklite funktsionaalsed erinevused taanduvad ning jaa levik laieneb jah-i arvel.

The aim of the article is to analyze the calls to the Estonian Emergency Response Centre, focusing on instances where callers reduce the severity of incident or emergency in their first turn. The data comprise 39 calls from the Corpus of Emergency Calls of the University of Tartu. The analysis reveals that callers employ mitigating words and negative turn-initial utterances to reduce the severity. These words indicate the caller’s uncertainty about the information provided or suggest that the reported incident or emergency is minor. The utterances are syntactically and semantically (but not prosodically) completed clauses followed by a second part of the clause construction containing specific information about the caller’s issue. Functionally, these utterances serve as assessments falling into three groups based on the information they project. Some assessments project uncertain information, explicitly expressing uncertainty about the information or using the epistemic marker ma=i=tea ‘I don’t know’. The second group of assessments project information about an incident that the caller does not qualify as an emergency. The last group projects a potential incident or emergency using variants of the utterance ei juhtund midagi ‘nothing happened’. In addition, we offer explanations for why callers reduce the severity of the incident or emergency and demonstrate that reducing severity does not lower the probability of sending assistance. This indicates that call-takers do not rely on callers’ assessments when deciding whether the help is needed.

Abstract The study explores the potential of utilizing particle use data to differentiate between seven Estonian registers: everyday conversation, institutional interaction, printed media (newspapers), prose fiction, academic prose, instant messaging, and internet comments. The objective is to develop a simple yet effective model that enables researchers to comprehend the internal logic behind register differentiation based on particle use. Particles are considered promising differentiators due to their independence from text content. The article outlines the chosen method, the model creation, and the testing process. A key finding reveals that hierarchical relationships between particles within registers prove more reliable indicators than general use frequencies. The method involves establishing correspondences between particle pairs and register pairs, facilitating the measurement of distances between registers. During testing, the model demonstrates high accuracy across registers, encountering some difficulties in categorizing fiction and institutional interaction. Overall, the study confirms the efficacy of the proposed method in distinguishing registers based on particle use, underscoring the significance of particles in linguistic analysis.

Artikli teema on päästekorraldajate keeleline ebaviisakus helistaja suhtes Eesti hädaabikõnedes. Uurimuse eesmärk on leida, millistes suhtlustegevustes ebaviisakus esineb, mis selle esile kutsub ja milline on ebaviisakuse keeleline vorm. Analüüs tõi esile kolm rühma ebaviisakaid suhtlustegevusi: (a) etteheited helistajale, (b) ebaviisakalt vormistatud küsimused, infopalved, palved ning (c) ebaviisakad abipalve tagasilükkamised ja järsud ühepoolsed kõne lõpetamised. Valdavalt on ebaviisakuse vallandajaks helistaja. Ühe rühma moodustavad joobes või ebaviisakad helistajad ja inimesed, kes ei järgi suhtlusnorme. Teise rühma moodustavad juhtumid, milles helistaja antud info ei sobi päästekorraldaja rutiinidega või Häirekeskuse töönormidega. Üksikjuhtudel esineb päästekorraldaja ebaviisakus ka ilma helistajapoolse mõjurita. Päästekorraldajad vormistavad ebaviisakused samal viisil nagu teistes uuritud keeltes. Keeleliste vahendite seas on nii ebaviisakusega seotud häälduslikud, sõnavaralised ja süntaktilised vahendid kui ka kõnevoorude vormistamise võtted. Eraldi tõstame esile pragmaatilised partiklid ja järsud kõnelõpetamised, mida meie teada varasemas literatuuris välja toodud ei ole. Abstract. Tiit Hennoste, Andriela Rääbis, Piret Upser, Kirsi Laanesoo- Kalk, Andra Rumm, Andra Annuka-Loik: `Sellepärast tahate `kiirabi või. Call-takers impoliteness in Estonian emergency calls. The topic of the article is the linguistic impoliteness (rudeness, face attack) of call-takers towards the caller in Estonian emergency calls. The purpose of the research is to find out the social actions where impoliteness occurs, its triggers and the linguistic form of rudeness. The data consists of audio-recorded calls from the emergency call corpus of the University of Tartu. The analysis revealed that impoliteness could be divided into three groups: (a) reproaches to the caller, (b) rudely formulated questions, requests for information and directives and (c) rudely formulated refusals of help and unilateral closings of the call. Impoliteness is generally triggered by the caller. One group includes drunk or rude callers and callers who do not follow social norms of interaction. The second group consists of cases where the information provided by the caller does not meet the standards of the call-takers or the Emergency Response Center. Only in a few cases, the call-taker initiates an impolite social action without the influence of the caller. Estonian call-takers express rudeness using the similar means as in the other languages studied. Linguistic tools associated with rudeness are found in pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and techniques of formulating turns in dialogue. In particular, we highlight pragmatic particles/markers and unilateral closings that, as far as we know, have not been presented in previous literature.

The topic of the article is the linguistic impoliteness (rudeness, face attack) of call-takers towards the caller in Estonian emergency calls. The purpose of the research is to find out the social actions where impoliteness occurs, its triggers and the linguistic form of rudeness. The data consists of audio-recorded calls from the emergency call corpus of the University of Tartu. The analysis revealed that impoliteness could be divided into three groups: (a) reproaches to the caller, (b) rudely formulated questions, requests for information and directives and (c) rudely formulated refusals of help and unilateral closings of the call. Impoliteness is generally triggered by the caller. One group includes drunk or rude callers and callers who do not follow social norms of interaction. The second group consists of cases where the information provided by the caller does not meet the standards of the call-takers or the Emergency Response Center. Only in a few cases, the call-taker initiates an impolite social action without the influence of the caller. Estonian call-takers express rudeness using the similar means as in the other languages studied. Linguistic tools associated with rudeness are found in pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and techniques of formulating turns in dialogue. In particular, we highlight pragmatic particles/markers and unilateral closings that, as far as we know, have not been presented in previous literature.

„Eesti grammatika“ on koguteos, mis kirjeldab enam kui tuhandel leheküljel eesti keele ehitust alates häälikutest kuni lausete ja dialoogideni. Raamatu viis osa annavad ülevaate eesti keele foneetikast ja fonoloogiast, sõnamuutmisest ja sõnamoodustusest, kirjalikust süntaksist ning esmakordselt ka suulise keele süntaksist ja dialoogi põhiehitusest. Sissejuhatus tutvustab keele tasandeid ja keelekirjelduse põhimõisteid. Grammatika koondab ennekõike selle sajandi eesti keele uurimise tulemusi, pakkudes kasutajale ühtede kaante vahel olulist teavet nüüdiseesti ühiskeele kõigi peamiste aspektide kohta. Käsitlus toetub tänapäevase keelekasutuse andmetele ning toob esile ka keelekasutuse varieerumise ja muutumise tendentsid. Raamatu lõpus on põhjalik eesti keele alaste uurimuste valikbibliograafia. „Eesti grammatika“ on vajalik infoallikas kõigile, kelle töö, õpingud või huvid seostuvad eesti keelega.

https://doi.org/10.5128/ERYa19.03Artikkel annab ülevaate Tartu ülikooli suulise ja arvutisuhtluse laboris loodud interaktiivse õpiprogrammi prooviversioonist, mis on mõeldud hädaabikõnedes esinevate suhtlusprobleemide lahendamise harjutamiseks ja oma oskuste testimiseks. Õpiprogramm sobib nii töötavatele päästekorraldajatele kui ka Sisekaitseakadeemia päästekorraldaja eriala õppuritele. Õpiprogrammi harjutused toetuvad tegelike hädaabikõnede mikroanalüüsile. Programm toimib Moodle’i keskkonnas ja on mõeldud iseseisvaks harjutamiseks. Artiklis antakse ülevaade õpiprogrammi olemusest, väljatöötamisest ja selle käigus tekkinud probleemidest.Võtmesõnad: hädaabikõned, suhtlusprobleemid, interaktiivne õpiprogramm, vestlusanalüüs, eesti keel***Trial version of interactive training program for emergency dispatchersThe paper gives an overview of a trial version of an interactive training program that is meant for practicing solving interactional problems arising in Estonian emergency calls. The training program is developed by the Laboratory of Spoken and Computer Mediated Communication at the University of Tartu. The training program is suitable for both skilled dispatchers (call-takers) at the Estonian Emergency Response Centre as well as for emergency response trainees at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences. The tasks of the training program are based on the results of sequential analysis of actual emergency calls. The program is based in Moodle and is meant for independent practicing. The paper gives an overview of the training program, the development process, and the problems that occurred during it.

Abstract This chapter examines the use of the Estonian particles jah and jaa ‘yes’ as responses to positively formulated requests for confirmation in ordinary interaction. We will show what actions these particles perform, in which sequential contexts they are used, and whether they can be interpreted as equivalent or not. Our analysis reveals that although both jah and jaa confirm the accuracy of the proposition presented in the question, the particles are not equivalent. The most important difference between jah and jaa lies in how the sequence continues after the response. After jah, the local sequence is closed, while after jaa, the sequence is expanded by the questioner. By using jaa the answerer indicates that the sequence is open for expansion and allows the interlocutor to choose how to continue. In addition, the context of jaa is more limited and partially different from the context of jah. In the case of jaa, the interactional stances of the interactants are systematically incongruent. Specifically, the questioners express their non-neutral interactional stance in the expansion of the sequence, while the answers respond neutrally or express a different interactional stance. Overall, jah could be classified as an ‘unmarked’ response particle which only confirms the question’s proposition, while jaa is pragmatically a more ‘marked’ particle used for ‘special purposes.’

Käesoleva numbri teemaks on diskursusemarkerite hulka kuuluvad pragmaatilised partiklid ja komplementlausega predikaadil põhinevad markerid (KP-markerid) ning nende kasutamine eesti, liivi, isuri, udmurdi, komi ja ersa keeles. Diskursusemarkeri mõiste varieerub: siinse teemanumbri kontseptsioon toetub käsitusele, mille kohaselt on diskursusemarker n-ö katustermin. See hõlmab nii üksikuid sõnu (nt küll, ju, ometi, nähtavasti) kui ka pikemaid kindla koosseisuga […]

KP-markerite täpsemaid seoseid erinevate registritega on vaadeldud statistilistes registrianalüüsides.Siin on meile olulised

The article analyzes the usage of three epistemic particles (vist, ilmselt, tegelikult) and three attitude particles (onneks, kahjuks, paraku) in texts belonging to different registers of Estonian: spoken interaction (institutional and everyday), online texts (instant messaging and comments), printed texts (prose fiction, journalism, and academic texts). The research material comes from the Keeleveeb portal and the corpora compiled in the project PRG341 "Pragmatics overwrites grammar: subjectivity and intersubjectivity in different registers and genres of Estonian". The study combines descriptive statistics with qualitative semantic and pragmatic analysis of the particles, comparing the frequency of usage of particles in different registers and exploring the possible semantic/pragmatic motivations underlying the frequency data. The research results broadly confirm the statistical picture obtained from similar studies done on other languages. Particles are used especially often in everyday interaction and quite rarely in journalism and academic texts. Verbal interaction, online comment sections and fiction fall between these two extremes. However, the analysis also reveals that this sort of generalizing overview fails to adequately describe the phenomena under investigation. First, the typical approach in register analysis, wherein epistemic and attitude particles are taken together as one group, is not appropriate. Different particles behave differently and should be analyzed individually. Only by doing this is it possible to determine the similarities and differences between particles. Second, the oppositions hitherto proposed as factors capable of explaining the differences in usage frequency between particles (e.g. dialogue/monologue, spontaneous/edited, everyday/public) do indeed work, but only within certain boundaries. They can explain the variation in frequency of some but not all particles, and they can explain some but not all of the differences. We have identified additional factors and created a narrower classification of the previously known factors. Third, the variation in usage frequency of certain particles may itself be a useful criterion for distinguishing different registers. This is true primarily of neutral and widely used particles. Of the particles analyzed in the present study, the most appropriate for this purpose are vist, expressing uncertain knowledge, and the contrast-marking particle tegelikult.

Within the project “Pragmatics above grammar: Subjectivity and intersubjectivity in Estonian registers and text types” (PRG341) we are studying the expression of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in different written and spoken registers of modern Estonian. We focus on adverbs that function as discourse markers (e.g. vist ‘maybe, probably’, ilmselt ‘apparently, obviously’, tegelikult ‘actually’), markers that develop from main clauses containing cognition verbs that take sentence complements (e.g. (ma) arvan ‘I think’, usun ‘I believe’, (mulle) tundub ‘it seems (to me), it appears (that)’) as well as modal and performative verbs (e.g. võib (juhtuda) ‘can (happen)’, peaks (tulema) ‘should (come)’; kinnitan/väidan (olevat) ‘I affirm/claim’). The analysis combines quantitative corpus-linguistic and qualitative pragmatic approaches, thus belonging to the field of corpus pragmatics. Unlike previous studies of related topics, the project systematically compares the usage of markers in different registers (spoken, online communication, print texts) and text types. The pilot studies performed thus far have revealed several problems with the existing Estonian corpora, important in the study of pragmatics. Firstly, some text types are underrepresented or not represented at all, the text types cannot always be distinguished, and the particular text may not always correspond to the nominal text type (e.g. an academic text may contain quotes from texts of other types). All of this makes it difficult to do comparative statistical analysis of different text types. Secondly, the markers under examination are multifunctional and identifying their (inter)subjective function requires consideration of context broader than a single sentence. However, the public search systems for the existing corpora do not provide this context. For instance, the discourse marker function of cognition verbs is indicated primarily by the fact that the topic of the conversation or text follows through the subordinate clause, not the main clause. Since the available search systems do not provide context larger than a single sentence, the identification of the topic of the discourse, and therefore of the potential discourse-marker function of the verb, is made more difficult. To avoid these problems, the project working group is developing a new “Pragmatics” corpus, being created in the SketchEngine environment. The corpus is made up of 10 subcorpora representing different text types and registers. Each subcorpus contains roughly 500,000 words.

Kojuigatsus – kauguseigatsus, kahte harusse kasvav puu Karl Ristikivi See lugu algab Kalju Lepiku artikli- ja esseekogumiku pealkirjaks tõstetud fraasist „Vaid üks eesti kirjandus”. See on ütlemine, mida kasutati palju eriti 1980.–1990. aastate vahetusel. Koos metafooriga kahte harusse kasvanud puust hakkas see kirjeldama eesti kirjanduse saatust Teise maa­ilmasõja järel. Lepik jagab selle teema kaheks. Üheks […]

Analüüs näitab, et a) ainult vist ja tegelikult sobivad varem esitatud partiklite registrilise sageduse mustriga, ülejäänud partiklite sagedused varieeruvad vähe ega sobi mustrisse ning b) ainult partikli vist sageduste seletamiseks sobivad põhiosas varem välja toodud konsituatiivsed tegurid

The article analyzes the usage of variants of the discourse marker (ma) arvan (et) in different registers of Estonian. The use of this marker is compared in 15 text groups, which can be grouped into three registers: printed texts, online texts and spoken texts. The research material comes from the corpora available on Keeleveeb as well as corpora of spoken language and online conversations and contains a total of 2572 usage instances. We seek answers to three research questions: does the frequency of the marker differ by text group and/or register? how does the frequency of variants of the marker differ according to syntactic position in different text groups and/or registers'? are different variants of the marker associated with different text groups and/or registers? Our analysis shows that there are four variants of the marker in use: ma arvan, ma arvan et, arvan, and arvan et, and registers and text groups differ in terms of the frequency of the marker, its typical position in the sentence, and its typical form. Based on the usage of the marker (ma) arvan (el), texts can be divided into four groups. On one end of the scale lies the spoken language register. The frequency of the marker is substantially higher in spoken language than in other groups, and almost exclusively variants including the pronoun ma arc used. Moreover, variants without the conjunction et are more common in spoken language than elsewhere. It is common for the verb and et to be pronounced together, such that the marker is in itself a prosodic whole. The marker often appears non-sentence -initially and is almost always prosodically integrated with the rest of the sentence. The other end of the scale is formed by non-fiction printed texts, i.e. journalism and (popular) science. These groups are characterized by the sentence -initial position of the marker; the high frequency of pro-drop variants (i.e. without the subject pronoun ma 'I'), and variants in which the orthographic boundary before the word et (marked by a comma) has been preserved. Fiction texts represent a middle ground, and are distinguished from other printed texts by the structure of the marker; similarly to spoken language; fiction texts feature more use of ma and less use of et. Online texts form a heterogeneous group with vague intenial boundaries. One identifiable subgroup is spontaneous real-time online conversations; in W hich the marker appears very frequently (as in spoken language), but its usage is peculiar. Next to this group on the scale are chat rooms. Generally; these groups behave similarly to spoken language. On the other end of the scale are news groups, which are most similar to printed texts. Forum texts and comments form a heterogeneous intermediate range. In summary, the differences in marker usage in different text groups are related to numerous factors; among which are spoken/written, processuality; dialogicity, spontaneity/editedness, the personal/impersonal nature of the interaction, and the influence of the rules of the standard language.

uurimus põhineb vestlusanalüüsi meeto-

The article targets complaint sequences in Estonian everyday conversations with a focus on responses to complaints. A complaint is a social action by which speakers express dissatisfaction with a certain state of affairs. The aim of complaining is to show that the matter is worth complaining about and to get affiliation from the recipient. For this research 40 school-related complaint sequences were studied. The purpose of this research was to find out how recipients respond to complaints and how different responses affect the course of the complaining. The preferred response to complaining is displaying affiliation with the complainant. This is accomplished either by recipients displaying the same emotion towards the complainable matter, talking about a similar experience, developing the complaint further or agreeing neutrally. This kind of responses are followed by continuation of complaining. Responses that do not convey any stance towards the complaint, such as the continuer mhmh, show that the recipient is listening and are also followed by continuation of complaining. Another type of response that gives the complainant an opportunity to continue the complaint is recipients asking follow-up questions. Additionally, there occurred three types of non-preferred responses in our data: accounting for the complainable matter, giving advice to complainants and dismissing the complaint. In the case of non-preferred responses, complainants reject the advice, do not accept the account for the complainable matter nor the dismissal of the complaint. Our analysis shows that complaining is continued after accounts and often after dismissals of the complaint. In our data, the complaint sequence gets closed after the recipient's advice-giving and sometimes after dismissals of the complaint.

annotatsioon.Artiklis analüüsitakse diskursusemarkeri (ma) arvan (