Dialectal Diversity in Estonia: Structure, Change, and Contact

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of the open access linguistics journal Languages, entitled "Dialectal Diversity in Estonia: Structure, Change, and Contact", that focuses on the dialectal variation in the languages of Estonia. The Estonian language and its varieties have formed in long-lasting contact with other languages of the area (see Pajusalu 2003). Recent years have seen the appearance of exciting new work exploring the history of connections among the languages of the Baltic region (e.g., Norvik et al. 2021, Lindström et al. 2025), and this Special  seeks to further enrich this conversation by deepening research into the dialects of Estonia.

This Special Issue will incorporate both synchronic and diachronic aspects of the study of the dialects of North Estonian, South Estonian (Võro, Seto), and other languages spoken in Estonia, e.g., Swedish and Russian. Therefore, we are interested in articles that describe the linguistic features, history of development, and the current state and social dimensions of the dialects of Estonia. We are also especially interested in articles that address the historical contacts among these varieties and how this has influenced their development and features.

This Special Issue aims to compile current research on all aspects of Estonian dialectal diversity into a single volume and make it accessible to a broad audience. Therefore, to ensure that the studies in this volume reach as wide of an audience as possible, we are requesting that all authors submit their abstracts and manuscripts in English.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors (karl.pajusalu@ut.ee and uldis.ivars.janis.balodis@ut.ee) or to the Languages Editorial Office (languages@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Tentative completion schedule:

Abstract submission deadline: 15 November 2025
Notification of abstract acceptance: 30 November 2025
Full manuscript deadline: 31 May 2026

References

Lindström, Liina, Miina Norvik, Helen Plado, Petar Kehayov. 2025. Estonian. – Convergence and Divergence in the Eastern Circum-Baltic Area. Volume 1: The Northern Part - A Synthetic View, especially on Finnic, and Case Studies. Eds.  Björn Wiemer, Peter Arkadiev, Petar Kehayov, Rogier Blokland. Vol. 33. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, pp. 247-356.

Norvik, Miina, Uldis Balodis, Valts Ernštreits, Gunta Kļava, Helle Metslang, Karl Pajusalu, Eva Saar. 2021. The South Estonian language islands in the context of the Central Baltic area. – Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri – Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 12(2):33-72. https://doi.org/10.12697/jeful.2021.12.2.02  

Pajusalu, Karl. 2003. Estonian dialects. – Estonian Language. Ed. Mati Erelt. (Linguistica Uralica, Supplementary Series, Vol. 1) Tallinn: Estonian Academy Publishers, pp. 231−272.

Prof. Dr. Karl Pajusalu
Dr. Uldis Balodis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.