188 DEVELOPMENT OF THE ESTONIAN 4 CULTURAL SPACE [ ESTONIAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2014/2015 ] INTRODUCTION ! MARJU LAURISTIN he Estonian National Strategy on Sustainable De- ical figures, historical anniversaries and calendars, etc. velopment – Sustainable Estonia 21 (SE21), (Strategy Sustainable Estonia 21). T adopted by the Parliament in 2005, defines sus- To have the viability of the cultural space as a goal tainable development as balanced movement towards and, what is more, as the ultimate development goal is four related objectives: growth of welfare, social coher- unique to the Estonian National Strategy on Sustain- ence, viability (sustainability) of the Estonian cultural able Development. The indicators used by Statistics Es- space and ecological balance (Oras 2012: 45–46). This tonia to illustrate this field include population dynamics chapter explores the ways in which the developments (survival of the Estonian people), use of the Estonian of the last decade have afected the sustainability of the language, and cultural participation (Statistics Estonia Estonian cultural space. The Estonian cultural space as 2009: 12–25). Statistics Estonia is regularly collecting data such is difcult to define scientifically. It is rather a from cultural institutions on the attendance of Estoni- metaphor for the goal stated in the preamble to the ans at cultural venues or events: theatres, museums, li- Constitution: “to ensure the preservation of the Eston- braries, cinemas and museums. Comparative data on ian nation, language and culture through the ages”. SE21 other EU member states are available from Eurobarom- interprets a cultural space as an arrangement of social eter surveys undertaken in 2007 and 2013. These data life which is carried by people identifing themselves as can be used to determine how the use of Estonian, at- Estonians and communicating in Estonian. The Eston- tendance at cultural venues or events, the status of our ian cultural space is characterised by the behaviour, re- cultural heritage, and the workforce in the cultural sec- lationships and the mode of living based on Estonian tor are changing. We can see that the use of Estonian, in traditions. The Estonian cultural space has materialised particular as a foreign language, has increased signifi- in the Estonian natural and living environment and in cantly over the last decade (Statistics Estonia 2009: 12–15); the Estonian environment of signs and symbols: com- moreover, Estonia is a leading country in Europe for munication language, personal and geographic names, both the attendance at cultural venues and events and colour preferences, building and home design practices, the number of people employed in the cultural sector generally known pieces of art and literature and histor- (ibid: 18–21). It must be added, however, that the propor- PEATÜKK 4 | EESTI KULTUURIRUUMI ARENG | EESTI INIMARENGU ARUANNE 2014/2015 189 tion of cultural workers in the workforce has dropped In this context, a most striking expression of the con- from 3.2% to 2.7% in recent years, although still re- tinuity of Estonian culture is the increasing popularity maining 0.3% above the EU average (2.4%). The situa- of our Song and Dance Celebration among young peo- tion is worse regarding the protection of cultural ple who have grown up in the digital environment. heritage – the number of architectural monuments in However, a major challenge to the sustainability of Es- bad or very bad condition has increased to 30% (Statis- tonian cultural space is our capacity to build bridges be- tics Estonia 2011: 14–17). tween the traditional values of our national culture and the digital means of self-expression and cultural partic- SE21 states that the sustainability of the Estonian ipation which are overwhelming in the new global en- national culture depends on the continuance of, or even vironment. increase in, the degree of the use of Estonian in difer- ent spheres of life and the diversity of its functionality, In the pages that follow we attempt to address the fol- and on continuing active cultural creation and partici- lowing questions: pation, passing on Estonian cultural traditions to the next generation as well as propagating and making the • What is the position of the Estonian language in the Estonian-language cultural assets internationally acces- world? (Sub-Chapter 4.1.) sible through the ever growing digital environment. • What is the strength of the Estonian culture in the Such a quantitative approach is necessarily limited by international arena? (4.2) the availability of reliable data from national or inter- •What is the level of cultural participation among the national statistical surveys or specialised studies. There- population of Estonia? How big are the diferences fore, the issues that require a qualitative analysis of in the cultural participation levels of diferent pop- cultural processes are outside the scope of this chapter. ulation groups? How is cultural participation chang- Moreover, non-verbal forms of culture are not distin- ing with the shif of generations? (4.3) guished based on their ethnic origin but rather on • How sustainable is the tradition of Song and Dance whether or not they belong to the Estonian cultural en- Festivals – one of the most important and original vironment. The analysis of the international distribu- forms of Estonian culture – in the context of inter- tion of our national culture is also based on Estonia as nationalisation and the digital revolution? (4.4) the country of origin, rather than on the author’s eth- • How does the emergence of audio-visual culture af- nic nationality. fect Estonian culture? (4.5 ) In the decade that has passed since the adoption of • How is the Estonian-language heritage in print and strategy Sustainable Estonia 21, the Estonian cultural other Estonian cultural heritage made accessible in space has rapidly internationalised thanks to the EU the digital world? (4.6) membership. Digital culture has created new opportu- nities for both cultural participation and creation and this has had a strong efect on the cultural participation practices of younger generations. We may speak about 1 Sub-chapters 4.2 to 4.3 and sub-chapter 4.6 of this chapter were prepared with the help a principal cultural shif from print-based to digital, in- of research supports IUT20-38 and IUT22-2, respectively, granted by the Ministry of Edu- ternet-based culture (see Lauristin 2012, Runnel et al. 2013). cation and Research. REFERENCES Lauristin, M. (2012). Eestlaste kultuurisuhte muutused liikumisel siirdeühiskon- Statistikaamet (2009). Säästva arengu näitajad. Indicators of Sustainable Development. nast võrguühiskonda. Aarelaid-Tart, A. (toim), Nullindate kultuur I: teise laine tule- Tallinn: Statistikaamet. mine. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus. Statistikaamet (2011). Säästva arengu näitajad. Indicators of Sustainable Development. Oras, K. (2012). Säästva arengu näitajad arenevad suurema lõimitavuse suunas. Tallinn: Statistikaamet. Eesti Statistika Kvartalikiri, 3, 45-54. Strateegia Säästev Eesti 21. Eesti säästva arengu riikliku strateegia „Säästev Eesti 21” Runnel, P., Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P., Viires, P. & Laak, M. (2013). The Digital heakskiitmine. https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/940717. Turn: User's Practices and Cultural Transformations. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Verlag. 190 PEATÜKK 4 | EESTI KULTUURIRUUMI ARENG | EESTI INIMARENGU ARUANNE 2014/2015 Sustainability of the Estonian 4.1 Language ! MARTIN EHALA Introduction he Development Strategy of the Estonian Language of ber of speakers compared to other languages of the world, 2004 set the long-term goal that “the Estonian lan- their percentage in the population of Estonia; the fluency and T guage will be the main means of communication of usage of Estonian and other languages in areas that are im- the developing contemporary high-technological and open portant for sustainability; and attitudes towards the Estonian multicultural society on Estonian territory” (Ministry of Ed- language. ucation and Research 2004: 13). Estonian is without doubt the most used language in Estonia today, although not in all areas of the country, nor in all sectors of activity. A key question for 4.1.1 Status of the Estonian Language the sustainability of the Estonian language is thus the ability of the state and of society to retain and strengthen the posi- among Other Languages tion of the Estonian language as a language of general com- of the World munication. This depends mostly on three factors: first, the number of speakers of Estonian in terms of absolute figures; According to the world languages database Ethnologue second, the percentage of these in the total population of Es- (www.ethnologue.com), there are 7,106 living languages in the tonia; and third, the attitudes of people living in Estonia to- world in 2014 (Lewis et al. 2014). Ethnologue divides them into wards learning and using Estonian and other languages 11 categories, ranking them on the basis of vitality. The high- (primarily English and Russian). est, Category 0 contains six languages of international spread: All three factors are interdependent: the larger the num- Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, English, French and Russian. Cate- ber of users and the larger their percentage in an area, the gory 1 comprises national languages, i.e. written languages keener the motivation will be for everybody in the area to be with an ofcial status, numbering 96 in the world. Category 2 fluent in the language. The more people that learn the lan- holds so-called provincial languages that have an ofcial sta- guage, the larger the number of users. The larger the number tus only in one part of a country; Category 3 contains lan- of users, the easier it is to ensure a high-level educational and guages of wider communication but no ofcial status, and cultural life. The richer the cultural life, the more positive at- Category 4 includes languages that do not have an ofcial sta- titudes there are for passing the language down from genera- tus but are still used as educational languages in schools.