Abstract
In our presentation we describe and analyse the ways languages were mentioned in the Estonian constitution of 1919. We also take a look at traces of debates, or rather the lack of them, around Estonian becoming the only official language and German, Russian and Swedish being mentioned as minority languages in the constitution.
Articles 12 and 20 guaranteed Estonia's minorities the right to establish their own schools and to study in their mother tongue. The first constitution was adopted on 15 June 1920 and provided for basic linguistic rights for national minorities: German, Russian and Swedish citizens.
Also, the cultural autonomy law established the right of minorities. Minorities widely took advantage of the right to establish minority schools in their own languages.
By 1929 there were 19 German, three Jewish, seven Latvian, 100 Russian, 15 Swedish and three Ingrian primary schools, and 14 German, nine Russian, one Latvian, and two Jewish secondary schools in Estonia. In the Ingrian schools, the language of instruction was Finnish, but Ingrian was also used orally.
In minority schools, the Estonian language was an obligatory subject, with four lessons per week. Non-Estonians without schools in their native languages mostly placed their children in German-medium schools; besides Estonian-medium, German-medium and French-medium kindergartens existed.
Higher education was available in German and Russian. Several normative acts were implemented regarding language use and education, including the Law on Public Primary Schools (1920), the Law on National Minorities (1925), the Law on Primary Schools (1931), and the Language Act (1934).