Kaarel Leetberg

Oli ka selline keelemees, nüüd kahjuks peaagu ununud. Oli Aaviku oponent, teooria mõttes nägi keeles loomulikku, "orgaanilist" nähtust, mis muutub, aga mida ei tasu uisapäisa muutma-uuendama hakata. Leetbergile on kõne, Saussure'i parole kõigetähtsam, keel - langue - muutub kõne kaudu. Leetberg rõhutab ka rikkumata keeletunde tähtsust. 

Äpardanud keeleuuendus, Rakvere 1927:

lk. 41. Kas võib ülepea keelt parandada nõnda kui meil parandada tahetakse? Kas ei ole mitte, nagu mujal nõnda siin ka, lugu nõnda, et orgaanilise asja mekaaniline parandamine võib ainult rikkumine olla. 

lk. 42. Kui kasutame wägisi keelevastast sõna ehk ütlemist, wägistame oma paremat tundmust ja sellega "tundmus läheb tuimaks".

lk. 46. Olen iseäranis kaks korda imeks pannud, kui edewad meil ollakse keelelisi uuendusi wastu wõtma.

lk. 47. ...Uulitsa ümberristumise [tänavaks] tõsine põhjus ka ei olnud mitte õrn rahvuslik tundmus, waid oli see - ütleme - madal meel, mis iseenast ei julge täiewäärtuslikuks pidada ja arvab, et see tõsine hea peab ikka teine olema kui see, mis temal on. See on see sama meel, mis enne tegi kadakasaksu, nüüd võib teha ka kadakaeestlasi.

[Kadakaeestlased ... ütleksin, et käib suurepäraselt meie taristlaste, teavitajate, nõustajate jt. kohta]

lk. 51. Kui tahame head keelt saada, siis peame seda keelt, mis meil on, hästi rääkima, igaüks oma isikliku tundmuse järel hästi, nõnda kui tema igal üksikul korral tunneb hea ja õige olema. Peame ekslikuks tunnistama selle seisukoha, et keegi tark mees oma tarkusest keele walmis teeb, ja siis teised muud kui õpiwad selle targaste tehtud keele ära ja ongi hea keel käes. ---

Nõnda siis, hea rääkimine annab hea keele. Heaks rääkimiseks on kõige pealt tarwis oma keeletundmus erk pidada ja kindlast temal järel käia. ---

Keeletegijaks ja emakeeleparandajaks ei ole meist keegi kutsutud, küll aga oleme kõik kutsutud keelt hästi rääkima. Kui seda teeme, siis walmistame ka tulewikule hea päranduse.

Meie "emakeeleõpetus", keelekorraldus ja keeletsensuur (toimetajate tegewus) otsekui püüaks inimeste keeletundmust segada ja nüritada. Nii et sageli inimene enam ei tea, mis "eesti keeles ikka õige on". Absurd. 

W on päris tore täht. Kirjutada tülikam, aga lugejale parem kui v, erineb rohkem teistest tähtedest. Võiks trükitekstis täiesti olla v asemel. 
 

Патриархъ въ Эстонiи

Патриархъ Кириллъ посещаетъ Эстонию. Прочиталъ его биографiю, познакомился съ нҌкоторыми его высказыванiями. Думаю, что въ общемъ и цҌломъ онъ позитивный старикъ. Онъ выходецъ изъ потомственной семьи священниковъ, его дҌдъ и отец были настоящими мучениками из-за своей вҌры. Такимъ образомъ онъ и его церковь, должно быть, являются гарантами того, что неосталинистамъ не удастся прiйти къ власти. И консервативное государство, гдҌ клерикалы имҌютъ огромное влиянiе на государственные дҌла, намного лучше безчеловечной тоталитарной диктатуры. Самодержавiе было лучше большевизма, клерикально-консервативный режимъ Доллфусса и Шушнигга в Австрии былъ лучше нацизма. И консервативно-клерикальная Россiя лучше неосталинской.

стыдно быть человѣкомъ

У моей внучки теперь чинчилья, милое маленькое животное, которая спокойно можетъ сидѣть на нашихъ рукахъ. Гладя ея удивительно мягкую шерсть я опять думаю о томъ, что мнѣ стыдно быть человѣкомъ. Вѣдь одинъ видъ чинчильи истребленъ, оставшіеся два подъ угрозой изъ-за браконьерства. Убиваютъ ихъ изъ-за ихъ мѣха... Еще одинъ примѣръ того, какъ мы изъ-за алчности, жеманства и глупости истребляемъ, испортимъ все живое вокругъ насъ.

Когда мы переселились въ домъ на окраинѣ Тарту, въ Вээрику, тамъ гнѣздилось много ласточекъ. Люди въ домѣ ихъ не любили, вѣдь подъ ласточкины гнѣзда на стѣнахъ остаются слѣды отъ ихъ говна. Теперь, навѣрно отчасти изъ-за нежеланія людей жить вмѣстѣ съ ласточками, отчасти изъ-за того, что имъ недостаетъ питанія, отчасти изъ-за того, что ихъ ловятъ и ѣдятъ на югѣ, гдѣ онѣ перезимовываютъ, ихъ стало все меньше, гнѣздъ подъ крышей нашего дома и на балконахъ нѣтъ.

Я чувствую, что сталъ мизантропомъ, иногда просто ненавижу Человѣка, человѣчество, культуру и цивилизацію, какъ нечистую силу, уничтожающую все живое на землѣ. А слѣдовательно – ненавижу и самаго себя, какъ представителя этого неудавшегося вида. Страшный парадоксъ, мучащій меня съ дѣтства.

Надѣюсь, что человѣчество изчезнетъ, что мы изчезнемъ съ лица земли раньше, чемъ оно успѣетъ уничтожить, чемъ мы успѣемъ уничтожить природу, біосферу. Можетъ быть появится человѣкъ, готовъ пожертвовать собой за другіе живыя существа, за чинчильи, за ласточки, за слоны, новый Іисусъ, Христосъ звѣрей, Спаситель всего живаго, природы.

Свинство

По-моему, принудить русскiя школы перейти на эстонскоязычное обученiе въ объемҍ 60 процентовъ просто свинство. Иногда въ свинствҍ можно найти некоторую хитрость, смекалку. Тутъ хитрости, вообще уму-разуму нҍтъ. Мы ведем себя по-советски, а не по-человҍчески. Воспитываемъ себҍ враговъ, какъ въ свое время сдҍлало советское руководство.

Либеральная революция?

Эстонія стала своеобразнымъ Гайдъ-паркомъ для россійскихъ оппозиціонныхъ политиковъ. Нынѣ у насъ гоститъ Илья Яшинъ, выступая на тему о возможности либеральной революціи въ Россіи. Въ послѣднее время я читаю главнымъ образомъ книги о жизни и событіяхъ въ Россіи сто лѣтъ тому назадъ. И о революціи, которая въ началѣ была либеральной... Обычно, какъ мы знаемъ, она таковой не остается. И часто ведетъ къ гражданской войнѣ, а война уже врядъ ли можетъ быть либеральной. 

Tweets with American Accent

 

Our president Ilves either likes small scandals or is simply unaware that he sometimes causes them. Not only irritating economists, but also Latvians and Russians with his sayings or tweets. Once there were doubts whether his knowledge of Estonian is good enough for the head of Radio Free Europe Estonian service. Now he speaks good Estonian, although he would do better not teaching Estonians how they must engineer and renovate their language. But this is an internal matter of the Estonian Republic. His tweets about Russia are not. In his book "The Next Hundred years" the political analyst George Friedman writes that one clear aim of the US has always been to oppose the rise of a superpower in Eurasia, and America's next challenge will be the reemergence of a more self-assured and aggressive Russia trying to regain it's former sphere of influence in
Central Europe. Estonia where NATO, i.e. the US can have military bases only one hundred kilometres from St. Petersburg is definitely a country that Russia would very much like to turn into its satellite or at least "finlandise". This is something Estonian politicians are aware of, and have tried to avoid, first of all doing everything possible to integrate Estonia into the Western political and military structures. Estonia is a member of both the European Community and NATO, but neither of these can give us complete guarantees of security, partly due to a kind of an actual or potential special relationship between Russia from the one and Germany and France from the other side. Only the US is able to defend the Baltic states, and soon after Estonia restored its independence our politicians made a strategic decision: to sacrifice some of our independence for security. Such a decision was behind Estonia's signing of a propagandistic letter of support to looming American intervention in Iraq and sending a symbolic contingent of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder whether such a decision also plays a role in our president's undiplomatic tweets about Russia. Although he now speaks Estonian nearly without any American accent, he expresses his views, willingly or not with a noticeable American accent. As Friedman and some other analysts have written, America would be (and perhaps already is) interested in avoiding too close a rapprochement between Russia and Europe, the emergence of a "Eurussia" advocated by some politicians on both sides. Thus, America tries to use the East Europeans as a buffer or a wedge to hinder such a development. They try to use anti-Russian sentiments still very much alive in the former Soviet republics and satellite states to block any movement toward "Eurussia". However, sentiments are not something lasting, to use them as an instrument in international politics, they have to be boosted, manipulated, re-ignited. In the Baltic states, the younger generation grown up in the post-Soviet era, doesn't always share the strong anti-Russian feelings of their fathers and mothers. Actually Estonians and Russians are moving close to signing a treaty on their common border. Here, the initiative on the Estonian side has been taken by some of our younger politicians. And it seems to find support of the general public. Most people are tired of the anti-Russian rhetoric of previous decades, and embracing the common sense approach: it is not in the interest of a small country to have unfriendly relations with its big neighbour. But can we exclude the possibility that preserving or even increasing tensions between the Baltic states and Russia are now or in not too distant future in the interests of American global politics? Perhaps not. Steps taken by Russia in its "near abroad", especially if they can be interpreted as simply aggressive and expansionist, can help America to put pressure on its West European allies, forcing them to avoid establishing too close relations with Russia. There are at least two main obstacles on the way to "Eurussia": the (possibly waning) anti-Russian attitudes in Eastern Europe and the extreme nationalists and Stalinists in Russia itself. The latter have a non-negligible influence on the Russian public and consequently on politics, and are relatively easy to provoke. Even by tweets of a president of a small country. Thus, I have the feeling that the tweets of our president about Russia he admonished for not saying its excuses for the annexation of Estonia are first of all interpreted as a provocation by influential people in Russia, and can obstruct the normalization of relations between Estonia and its big neighbour. Thus serving o the geopolitical interests of the US, as far as these are correctly analysed and interpreted by George Friedman and his colleagues. Thus, the interests of Estonia and the US are not always identical. It is hard to believe that a serious conflict between Russia and a small country like Estonia would serve the interests of the latter, but it is quite possible that it would be welcome to the Americans. America can make serious mistakes, and recover from them easily, any serious mistake in foreign policy can do serious damage to Estonia, even put in danger its very existence.

Some Racist Thoughts

In antique times, what is now known as Cabo São Vicente, the extreme southeastern point of mainland Europe, was thought to be the end of the world, farther from it there was only the great ocean where nobody had been and nobody had means nor courage to venture. I have visited this ancient end of the world, finis terrae twice, and after my last trip there I came back as a racist. Seeing all the rubbish people, I suppose they are mainly tourists from richer European countries, throw everywhere convinced me that me and my friends from the one and these happy polluters belong to different races. And there can be no or very little mutual understanding between them and us. I think our main differences are not genetic (I don't exclude this completeley), but memetic. As there are or were different human genetic races, now slowly mixing and amalgamating, there are different memetic races, and their number is probably increasing. My racism arises from the understanding of non-communicability between the polluters and non-polluters, and led me to an idea that we would need a kind of a neo-apartheid system, we would profit from not living in the same areas, sharing the same space. It would nice to assign the happy polluters, the tourists with their big cars and dogs, casks of beer, caravans and golf courses to some reservations or ghettoes. But I understand that people who have some understanding for nature, and have (consequently?) little understanding for these individuals of our own species, are very much a minority. And it's us who need reservations and ghettoes. We and some other animals, many of them in danger of extinction as the Iberian lynx or even Indian tiger... In the age of entertainment (including sports) and bestsellers replacing most of other culture we intellectuals should think of creating such reservations for ourselves, members of small tribes incapable of living the life designed for us by trendmakers. Perhaps we should begin by founding some kind of monasteries as intelligent people did in the darkest ages of European history. Our age seems to be very colourful, but it's only the surface. The coloured rubbish covers the surface and shadows everything that lies under it, turning everything there into deepening darkness.