Võro language
From Freepedia
| Võro (Võro kiil´) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Estonia |
| Region: | Northern Europe |
| Total speakers: | 70,000 |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Uralic languages |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | regional language in Estonia, in search of more recognition |
| Regulated by: | - |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | - |
| ISO 639-2 | fiu (Finno-Ugric, other) |
| SIL | EST (classed as Estonian) |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
The Võro language (võro kiil´), like Estonian, Hungarian, and Finnish, is a Finno-Ugric language. It belongs to the Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. Võro is an autochthonous regional language of Estonia (in search of more recognition). Võro language has about 70,000 speakers (Võros) mostly in south-eastern Estonia, in the eight parishes of historical 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. Many Võro language speakers can also be found in Tallinn, Tartu and the rest of Estonia.
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History
Võro is a descendant of the old South-Estonian tribal language and is the least influenced by North-Estonian. The Võro language was also once spoken further south and east of historical Võromaa in what is now Latvia and Russia. In addition to Võro, other contemporary South-Estonian languages include the Mulgi, Tartu and Seto. By some linguists, as well as the Ethnologue, Võro and other South Estonian languages are still called dialects of Estonian.
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 European Songcontest in 2004 performed by Neiokoso has been in Võro language as well.
Võro language is seriously endangered by Estonian and by 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, ĺ, t́, ḱ, h́ etc. Instead of the acute accent, an apostrophe is usually used: s', etc.
In Võro all consonants (except j and q) can be palatalized. The glottal stop (q) is a very common sound in Võro. There is also the vowel harmony like in Finnish and Hungarian.
See also
External links
- Võro-Estonian dictionary (Võro Institute)
- Võro Institute
- Võro language newspaper "Uma Leht"
- Audio example of Võro language
- "Estonian dialects and layers" on http://www.estonica.org
- Homepage of computer programs in Võro
- English-Võro dictionary of computer terms
- Eurominority (in English)
- Uralic languages (Salminen 2003)
- Online games in Võro languagefiu-vro:Võro kiil'
Categories: Finno-Ugric languages | Estonian culture | Estonian society | Vowel harmony languages | Languages of Estonia
