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.

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 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.

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 a vowel very close to Russian ы (not Finnish y!), ´ marks palatalization of consonants (like in Polish): ś, ń, l´, t´, k´, h´ etc.

In Võro all consonants (except j and q) can be palatalized. Glottal stop (q) is very common sound in Võro. There is also the vowel harmony like in Finnish and Hungarian language.

See also

• Võro tongue-twisters

External links

• Võro-Estonian dictionary (Võro Institute)
• Võro Institute
• Võro language newspaper "Uma Leht"
• Audio example of Võro language
• Homepage of computer programs in Võro
• English-Võro dictionary of computer terms
• Eurominority (in English)
• Eurominority (in Võro)
• Uralic languages (Salminen 2003)
• Online games in Võro language