Semantics and pragmatics
The focus of semantics and pragmatics research is on word meanings, their use in communication, and their relation to grammar. For example, we conduct studies on spatial, motion, and time expressions, referential devices, and the linguistic means used to express politeness. In addition, we conduct comparative studies, such as the use of referential devices like demonstrative pronouns and adverbs as well as noun phrases in Estonian, Finnish, Võro, and Russian, and politeness expressions in multiple other languages. The newest research directions explore linguistic awareness and the ways in which Covid restrictions are communicated.
Our research includes usage-based approaches, using corpus-based and experimental methods with both quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Researchers related to the field
Renate Pajusalu
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Head of Department, Professor of General Linguistics
Jakobi 2-403
Renate Pajusalu is the Professor of General Linguistics from 2007. She has mostly studied semantics and pragmatics. Her studies include word semantics and interactional linguistics, both also from first and second language acquisition perspective. She has also studied linguistic politeness. The main focus of her research has been referential practices in Estonian, Russian and Finnish. She leads the working group “Referential Practices”, which participate in the Excellence Centre “Estonian Studies”. She is interested in contrastive grammar and pragmatics of Estonian and Finnish and is an author of a textbook on Estonian language based on Finnish language. She has been active in organizing Linguistics Olympiad in Estonia from 2003.
Renate Pajusalu
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Head of Department, Professor of General Linguistics
Jakobi 2-403
Ilona Tragel
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Associate Professor of General Linguistics
Jakobi 2-442
526 4065 (3356)
Ilona Tragel has been working at the University of Tartu since 2001, currently as an Associate Professor of General Linguistics. She has also held the positions of a researcher, head of UT language center and the head of doctoral school. In 2014–2018 she was a lecturer of Estonian at Beijing Foreign Studies University. She defended her doctoral thesis on Estonian core verbs in 2003 at UT. Her theoretical background lies in cognitive linguistics. Her research interests are verbal semantics and polysemy, recently also academic texts and language of Covid-19. More information about Ilona Tragel and her work can be found on her website: https://ilonatragel.ut.ee/.
Ilona Tragel
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Associate Professor of General Linguistics
Jakobi 2-442
526 4065 (3356)
Ann Veismann
eesti ja üldkeeleteaduse lektor
Ann Veismann is a lecturer in Estonian language and general linguistics. Her background lies in cognitive and functional linguistics. Her main research interest is the semantics and usage of grams (adpositions, particles) and more broadly the interconnections between grammar and semantics. She has also been interested in time and space vocabulary in Estonian, conceptual metaphor theory and spatial frames of reference. In addition to qualitative and quantitative corpus studies she is keen on experimental semantics (e.g. forced choice tasks and acceptability ratings).
Heili Orav
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Research Fellow in General Linguistics (employment contract suspended) 0.1 p
Institute of Computer Science
Chair of Natural Language Processing
Lecturer in Natural Language Processing
r 3059
+372 737 6143
Heili Orav is a research fellow in general linguistics, whose research is mostly related to computational linguistics and language technology. Her main research field is lexical semantics. Currently she is the leader of Estonian Wordnet project (https://cl.ut.ee/ressursid/teksaurus/index.php?lang=et), the main goal of which is to compile a large database of synonymous words or multi-word units in Estonian that express the same concept.
Heili Orav
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Research Fellow in General Linguistics (employment contract suspended) 0.1 p
Institute of Computer Science
Chair of Natural Language Processing
Lecturer in Natural Language Processing
r 3059
+372 737 6143
Piia Taremaa
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Research Fellow in General Linguistics
Jakobi 2-446
Piia Taremaa is a research fellow who defended her PhD thesis in linguistics at the University of Tartu in 2017. Situating herself in the framework of cognitive linguistics, her research interests include semantics, morphosyntax and constructional variation. She has a particular interest in the expression of space and motion, and she is also interested in reference, spoken language perception and academic writing. In her studies, she applies corpus and experimental methods, and combines quantitative research methods with qualitative ones.
Piia Taremaa
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Research Fellow in General Linguistics
Jakobi 2-446
Maria Reile
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Research Fellow in Experimental Pragmatics
Jakobi 2-446
Maria Reile is a research fellow in experimental pragmatics. Her main research interests lie in semantics, pragmatics and reference. In particular, she is interested in the use of Estonian spatial demonstratives, such as see ’this/that’ and too ’that’. In 2019 she defended her PhD thesis about the use of Estonian demonstrative pronouns and adverbs in spatial reference. In addition to demonstratives, she is also interested in scalar implicatures and scalar words in general. In her research, Maria mainly uses experimental methods but also has experience in corpus-linguistics using both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Maria Reile
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Research Fellow in Experimental Pragmatics
Jakobi 2-446
Helen Hint
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Lecturer in Academic Literacy, Programme Director
Jakobi 2-430
+372 737 6022
Helen Hint
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of General Linguistics
Lecturer in Academic Literacy, Programme Director
Jakobi 2-430
+372 737 6022
Carl Eric Simmul
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of Estonian
Junior Research Fellow in Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics 0.9 p
Jakobi 2-431
Carl Eric Simmul is a doctoral student and a junior research fellow in Estonian and Finno-Ugric linguistics. In his PhD project, he investigates the semantic, informational and structural attributes of estonian des-, mata- and maks-converb constructions. He is also a member of a team working on the project “Pragmatics overwrites grammar” that investigates the ways in which subjectivity and intersubjectivity manifest in different registers of Estonian. He is interested in the problems of morphosyntax, semantics, information structure pragmatics, perception, comprehension and learning.
Carl Eric Simmul
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of Estonian
Junior Research Fellow in Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics 0.9 p
Jakobi 2-431
Iuliia Zubova
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of Finno-Ugric Studies
Junior Research Fellow in Finno-Ugric Studies
Jakobi 2-418
Iuliia Zubova is a junior researcher working with the Udmurt language. She is a team member in the project «Grammar of discourse particles in Uralic languages» led by Gerson Klumpp. She has a background in theoretical linguistics and studies grammatical features of Finno-Ugric languages from the typological perspective. She investigates semantics and syntax of focus and discourse particles and related phenomena in Udmurt. Iuliia has been a part of the project on description of grammar and vocabulary of Beserman Udmurt since 2013. She has participated in about 10 fieldtrips to Northern Udmurtia. In her work, she uses methods of elicitation, corpus analysis, and linguistic experiments.
Iuliia Zubova
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics
Department of Finno-Ugric Studies
Junior Research Fellow in Finno-Ugric Studies
Jakobi 2-418
Lydia Risberg
doctoral student
Lydia Risberg is a PhD student in Estonian Linguistics, she focuses on word meanings. Her doctoral thesis focuses on meaning changes and she hopes to find a balance between the descriptive and prescriptive approach to language. In addition to her PhD studies, she is also a Junior Researcher and Language Planner at Institute of the Estonian Language (EKI) and takes part in compiling the EKI Combined Dictionary.
