Introduction to the Estonian special issue of FULL

Abstract

This is a special issue of FULL, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Estonia. Estonia is one of the three sovereign countries where a Uralic language is a national language as well as the language spoken by the majority of the population. The Estonian language belongs to the Southern group of the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finnic languages. Its closest relatives are Livonian, Votic, and South Estonian: Võro and Seto; both are considered as dialects in some approaches (see more details and further information in “Finno-Ugric peoples” n.d.).