MARTIN EHALA ⟩ The standard dictionary must be as clear as traffic rules

Photo: Mihkel Maripuu

• Language planning must be seen as part of standardization.
• When enforcing norms, people must be given enough freedom.
• The idea that norms should be abolished instead is ridiculous.

For the last five years, there has been a struggle over the fate of the Estonian written language. On one side, the language planners of the Institute of the Estonian Language, on the other, Estonian language teachers and language editors. Now the chancellor of justice and the Estonian Language Council have also intervened. This tale would be comical if it wasn't far from a joke, editor Martin Ehala writes.

Language planners claim that we need to get rid of authority-based standardization and be guided by the actual language of language users. At the same time, their demand is no less authoritarian. Relying on «scientific» theories, they push the principle that the norm is the way life goes.

It is easy to demonstrate the absurdity of this view. We have traffic rules, but people cross the road at red lights, they also cross the road in places not designated for it and drive over the speed limit. There are people who don't wear a seat belt in the car or do not wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. Not to mention that people still get behind the wheel when they have had alcohol beforehand.

People inherently need norms. And the more complex the society, the clearer the rules should be. Therefore, language planning must be seen as part of standardization.

Thanks to «scientific» studies, it has now become clear that all this is natural. Traffic is essentially like a person's gender -- you can feel like a man one day, a woman the next, and something in between the day after that. Right- and left-hand traffic, traffic lights and traffic signs are simply arbitrarily imposed social constructs. And the traffic rules are not inclusive --why should a road user feel guilty for crossing the road at a red light or speeding? The way we move is not for anyone to judge. More traffic positivity!

One could continue highlighting comical woke parallels between traffic and language for a long time. It is true that both language and traffic are universal and natural. There is no society whose members do not use language or move. Depending on culture and technological development, societies need rules of varying precision for organizing both traffic and language activities.

In traditional oral cultures where carts and sleds are used, there is no need for a dictionary of standard language or traffic rules. Although already in folk songs there are warning examples of the road rage of two wedding parties on a narrow bridge.

The need for standardization arises together with the state and becomes inevitable with the development of print culture and industrial capitalism. This need is pragmatic -- to ensure optimal traffic flow and information exchange.

It is another question how strictly the norms should be enforced. A society that meticulously follows the way people use language would be quite unbearable.

People inherently need norms, because human societies function normatively. And the more complex the society, the clearer the rules should be. Therefore, language planning must be seen as part of standardization. Modern language planners, enamored with the ideology of inclusion, do not understand this simple truth.

It is another question how strictly the norms should be enforced. A society that meticulously follows the way people use language would be quite unbearable. It would be the same if systems were installed on the roads that would make it possible to punish every speeder, or if artificial intelligence began to monitor every pedestrian and give everyone penalty points for crossing the road on red. Such a society would reduce human freedom and responsibility to nothing.

In short, we need accurate and clear traffic rules as much as we need an equally accurate and clear standard dictionary. And enough humanity to not become an animal when enforcing the norms.