Võro language

The Võro language (Võro: võro kiil, Estonian: võru keel)^[1][2] is a language^[3] belonging to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages.^[4] Traditionally it has been considered a dialect of the South Estonian dialect group of the Estonian language, but nowadays it has its own literary language^[5] 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.^[6][7][8]

History

Võro is a descendant of the old South Estonian tribal language and is the least influenced by Standard Estonian (which is based on Northern Estonian dialects). Võro was once spoken further south and east of historical Võromaa in South Estonian-speaking enclaves Lutsi, Leivu and Kraasna 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

The majority of Estonians perceive the Võro language as a modern synonym for South Estonian^[9]. Today, Võro is used in the works of some of Estonia's best-known playwrights, poets, and authors (Madis Kõiv, Ülle Kauksi, Jaan Kaplinski, Ain Kaalep, etc.). One newspaper is printed in Võro: the fortnightly Uma Leht (literally 'Our Own Newspaper'). 26 public schools offer weekly special (mostly extracurricular) classes in modern Võro.

Estonia's contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the song "Tii", which was performed by Neiokõsõ in Võro. The language is endangered^[10] by standard Estonian due to the government's lack of legal commitment to protect the language.

Writing system

Võro 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/ and y denotes /ɨ/, a vowel very close to Russian ы or Polish y (from 2005 written õ). The acute accent marks palatalization of consonants (like in Polish): ś, ń, ĺ, t́, ḱ, h́, ḿ, and so on.

Phonology

Vowels

In Võro there is vowel harmony, typical of many Uralic languages but lacking in modern standard Estonian.

Consonants

All Võro consonants (except /j/ and /ʔ/) can be palatalized. The glottal stop (q, IPA [ʔ]) is a very common sound in Võro.

Differences among Võro, Estonian and Finnish

• A significant difference between standard Estonian and the Võro language is vowel harmony. There is no vowel harmony in the majority of North Estonian dialects and standard Estonian, but it exists in the Võro and Finnish languages; compare:

• Some morphological features of the Võro language are considered to be very old. For instance the 3rd person singular of the indicative mood can be either without an ending or, alternatively, with a s-ending:

Among the Finnic languages, such double verb conjugation can be found only in the South Estonian and Karelian languages.

• Võro has a negative particle that is appended to the end of the verb, whereas standard Estonian and Finnish have a negative verb, which precedes the verb. In Estonian and Finnish, the negative verb ei (Finnish en/et/ei/emme/ette/eivät) is used in both present and past negation, whereas in Võro the same is expressed by different particles ending with -i(q) or -s:

• Differences in vocabulary between Estonian and the Võro language can be clearly seen in everyday speech (yet a common Estonian is able to understand most everyday Võro words, since many of them exist in Standard Estonian as dialectal synonyms for the words given or in literary language); many Võro words are closer to Finnish than to 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.

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.

In Finnish:

Kaikki ihmiset syntyvät vapaina ja tasavertaisina arvoltaan ja oikeuksiltaan. Heille on annettu järki ja omatunto, ja heidän on toimittava toisiaan kohtaan veljeyden hengessä.

Basic greetings

• Tereq! – Hello! Good day!

• (Tere) hummogust – Good morning

• (Tere) õdagust – Good evening

• Hääd üüd / hüvvä üüd – Good night

• Näemiq – See you later

• Hüvvä / hääd nägemist – Goodbye

• Rõõm nätäq – Nice to meet you

• Aiteh / Aitjumma – Thank you

• Kuis lätt – How are you / How you doing?

• Häste – I'm fine

• Olõq terveq tulõmast! – Welcome!

Important words and phrases

• jah / jaa – yes

• ei – no

• ma olõ – I am

• maq, saq, tä – I, you, he/she

• miiq, tiiq, nääq – we, you, they

• seo – this, it

• taa / tuu – that, it

• muidoki – of course

• Mul om – I have

• Sul om – You have

• Kas sul om? – do you have?

• Mul olõ-õiq – I have not

• üts, kats, kolm, neli, viis – one, two, three, four, five

• kuus, säidse, katõsa, ütesä, kümme – six, seven, eight, nine, ten

• sada, tuhat, mill'on – hundred, thousand, million

• vabandust / pallõ andis – sorry or excuse me

• vesi – water

• Eesti – Estonia

• Võromaa – Võro area

• võro kiil – Võro language

• võrokõnõ – Võro (person)

• eestläne – Estonian (person)

• saa-i arvo – I don't understand

• saa arvo – (I) understand

• Kas võro kiilt mõistat? – Do you understand Võro?

• Kas inglüse kiilt kõnõlõt? – Do you speak English?

• Ma olõ ingläne / ameeriklanõ / kanadalanõ / austraallanõ / vahtsõmeremaalanõ / iirläne / sotlanõ – I am English / American / Canadian / Australian / New Zealander / Irish / Scottish

• Kon sa elät / kon ti elät? – Where do you live?

See also

• South Estonian language
• Finnic languages
• Võro Institute
• Uma Leht, newspaper in the Võro language

Notes

Further reading

• Ehala, Martin & Niglas, Katrin (2007): Empirical evaluation of a mathematical model of ethnolinguistic vitality: the case of Võro. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.
• Eller, Kalle (1999): Võro-Seto language. Võro Instituut'. Võro.
• Iva, Sulev; Pajusalu, Karl (2004): The Võro Language: Historical Development and Present Situation. In: Language Policy and Sociolinguistics I: "Regional Languages in the New Europe" International Scientific Conference; Rēzeknes Augstskola, Latvija; 20–23 May 2004. Rezekne: Rezekne Augstskolas Izdevnieceba, 2004, 58 – 63.
• Iva, Sulev (2007): Võru kirjakeele sõnamuutmissüsteem (Inflectional Morphology in the Võro Literary Language). Dissertationes Philologiae Estonicae Universitatis Tartuensis 20, Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus (online: http://dspace.utlib.ee/dspace/bitstream/10062/4860/1/iva_sulev.pdf, English summary pp 144–146).
• Jüvä, Sullõv(2002): Võro-eesti synaraamat (Võro-Estonian dictionary). Publications of Võro Institute 12. Tarto-Võro.
• Keem, Hella (1997): Võru keel (Võro language). Võro Instituut ja Eesti teaduste akadeemia Emakeele selts. Tallinn.
• Koreinik, Kadri (2007): The Võro language in education in Estonia. Regional dossiers series. Mercator. European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning (online: http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/PDFs/vo%CC%83ro_in_estonia.pdf).
• Koreinik, Kadri; Pajusalu, Karl (2007): Language naming practices and linguistic identity in South-Eastern Estonia. – Language and Identity in the Finno-Ugric World. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium at the University of Groningen, May 17–19, 2006. R. Blokland and C. Hasselblatt (eds). (Studia Fenno-Ugrica Groningana 4). Maastricht: Shaker.

External links

• Võro language and alphabet at Omniglot
• (Võro) Võro-Estonian dictionary (Võro Institute)
• (Võro) Võro Institute
• (Võro) Võro language newspaper "Uma Leht"
• Audio example of Võro language
• "Estonian dialects and layers" on http://www.estonica.org
• Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: vro
• Swadesh list for Finnic languages
• (Võro) Homepage of computer programs in Võro
• (Võro) English-Võro dictionary of computer terms
• Eurominority
• Uralic languages (Salminen 2003)
• (Võro) Online games in Võro language
• (Võro) Collection of cartoons in Võro