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Võro language
The Võro language (võro kiil)[1] is a language belonging to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. Traditionally it is considered a dialect of South Estonian or Estonian, but it has its own literary language and is in search of official recognition as an autochthonous regional language of Estonia. Võro has about 70,000 speakers (Võros) mostly in south-eastern Estonia, in the eight parishes of historical Võru County: 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.
[edit] HistoryVõro is a descendant of the old South Estonian tribal language and is the least influenced by Standard Estonian (based on Northern Estonian dialects). Võro 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. 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 newspaper, Uma Leht, comes out twice a month. Estonia's contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the song "Tii", which was performed by Neiokõsõ in Võro. The language is seriously endangered by standard Estonian due to the lack of the government's legal commitment to protect the language. [edit] Writing systemVõro employs the Latin alphabet, like Estonian and Finnish.
Most letters (including ä, ö, ü, and õ) denote the same sounds as in Estonian, with a few exceptions. The letter q stands for the glottal stop /ʔ/, y denotes /ɨ/ (a vowel very close to Russian ы or Polish y), the acute accent marks palatalization of consonants (like in Polish): ś, ń, ľ, ť, ḱ, h́, ḿ, and so on. [edit] Phonology[edit] Vowels
In Võro there is vowel harmony, typical of many Finno-Ugric languages but lacking in modern standard Estonian. [edit] Consonants
All Võro consonants (except /j/ and /ʔ/) can be palatalized. The glottal stop (q, IPA [ʔ]) is a very common sound in Võro. [edit] Language exampleArticle 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. As comparison the same sentence in Standard Estonian: Kõik inimesed sünnivad vabadena ja võrdsetena oma väärikuselt ja õigustelt. Neile on antud mõistus ja südametunnistus ja nende suhtumist üksteisesse peab kandma vendluse vaim. [edit] Differences between Võro and Estonian
Among the Finnic languages, such double verb conjugation can be found only in the South Estonian and Karelian languages.
[edit] References[edit] Bibliography
[edit] See also[edit] External links Võro language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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