Võro language

The Võro language (võro kiil) is a language belonging to the Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. It is often considered a dialect of South Estonian or Estonian, but has its own literary language and is in search of official recognition as an autochthonous regional language of Estonia. Võro language has about 70,000 speakers (Võros) mostly in south-eastern Estonia, in the eight parishes of historical Võru County (Võromaa): Karula, Harglõ, Urvastõ, Rõugõ, Kanepi, Põlva, Räpinä, and Vahtsõliina. These parishes are currently centered (due to redistricting) in Võru and Põlva Counties with parts extending into Valga and Tartu counties. Speakers can also be found in the towns of Tallinn, Tartu and the rest of Estonia.

History

Võro is a descendant of the old South Estonian tribal language and is the least influenced by North Estonian. It was once spoken further south and east of historical Võromaa in what is now Latvia and Russia. In addition to Võro, other contemporary variants of South Estonian include the Mulgi, Tartu and Seto language or dialect.

One of the earliest written evidences of South Estonian is a translation of the New Testament (Wastne Testament) published in 1686. Although the status of South Estonian began to diminish after the 1880s, the language began to undergo a revival in the late 1980s.

Present situation

Today, Võro is used in the works of some of Estonia's most well known playwrights, poets, and authors. Võro is taught once a week in 26 schools. The only Võro language newspaper, Uma Leht, comes out twice a month.

Estonia's contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, the song "Tii" performed by Neiokõsõ, was in Võro.

Võro language is seriously endangered by standard Estonian due to the lack of the government's legal commitment to protect the language.

Orthography

Võro (like Estonian and Finnish) employs the Roman script. Most letters (also ä, ö, ü, and õ) denote the same sounds as in Estonian. Exceptions: q stands for glottal stop , y denotes the barred-i (a vowel very close to Russian ы), ´ marks synchronic phonetic palatalization of consonants (like in Polish): ś, ń, ľ, ť, , h́, ḿ etc. Instead of the acute accent, an apostrophe is often used: s', l', etc.

Phonology

In Võro all consonants (except j and q) can be palatalized. The glottal stop (q, IPA ) is a very common sound in Võro (Glottal_stop#V.C3.B5ro). There is also vowel harmony, typical in most Finno-Ugric languages but lacking in modern standard Estonian.

Language example

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Võro: Kõik inemiseq sünnüseq avvo ja õiguisi poolõst ütesugumaidsis. Näile om annõt mudsu ja süämetunnistus ja nä piät ütstõõsõga vele muudu läbi käümä.

External links