Käändevormide varieerumine ja seda mõjutavad tegurid kirjalikus keeles indefiniitpronoomeni keegi näitel

The variation in the case forms of the indefinite pronoun keegi ‘someone’ in written Estonian There is variation in the case forms of the indefinite pronouns keegi ‘someone’, miski ‘something’, kumbki ‘either’ and ükski ‘none’ in Estonian. In these pronouns, -gi/-ki can appear after the case ending (e.g., kellelegi), as specified in the standard language norm; before the case ending (e.g., kellegile); between two case endings (e.g., kellelegile); or both before and after the case ending (e.g., kellegilegi). In this article, I used data from the Estonian National Corpus 2021 to provide an overview of the extent of variation in the case forms of keegi, miski, kumbki and ükski, and to describe the factors influencing the variation in the case forms of the pronoun keegi. The results indicate that for all four pronouns, -gi/-ki is most commonly placed after the case ending, accounting for 85.3% of all occurrences. The second most common forms are those where -gi/-ki precedes the case ending, making up 14.1% of occurrences. A univariate analysis conducted to identify the factors influencing this variation showed that genre, the occurrence of the pronoun as an attribute, and the function of the pronoun in a clause significantly influenced the variation of case forms. A multivariate analysis indicated that genre – and, consequently, the impact of editing – was most strongly associated with the variation. In genres such as blogs and periodicals, which are typically edited, -gi/-ki is predominantly placed after the case ending. Conversely, in forums, which are often unedited, it is more common for -gi/-ki to appear before the case ending, between two case endings, or both before and after the case ending.