Võro

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Võro (võro kiiĺ)

Spoken in

Estonia
speaker 70,000 (native speakers)
Linguistic
classification
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

et (Estonian)

ISO 639 -2

est (Estonian)

ISO 639-3

vro (Võro), est (macro language, Estonian)

Võro (võro kiiĺ) is traditionally a dialect of Estonian . However, some authors also speak of an independent Finno-Ugric language, South Estonian , which belongs to the Baltic Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. Võro is now promoted by the Estonian state as an indigenous regional language of Estonia and has around 70,000 speakers, mainly living in southern Estonia.

The historic Võromaa consists of the eight municipalities Karula , Harglõ , Urvastõ, Rõugõ, Kanepi , Põlva , Räpinä and Vahtsõliina. These parishes are predominantly parts of Võru and Põlva counties , with small parts also extending into Valga and Tartu counties .

history

Territory of the Võro ​​speakers

Võro is considered to be the least influenced by the North Estonian dialects that shaped Standard Estonian. Võro used to be spoken south and east of historical Võromaa (in what is now Latvia and Russia ). Compared to other South Estonian dialects such as Mulgi , Tartu and Seto , Võro ​​has retained most of its distinctive features.

One of the earliest texts in any South Estonian language is a translation of the New Testament (Wastne Testament) published in 1686. In 1885 Johann Hurt published the most important reading book in Võro, the Wastne Wõro keeli ABD raamat . At the beginning of the 20th century, the dominance of Standard Estonian as the state language of the Republic of Estonia, which was founded in 1918, resulted in a significant loss of importance for Võro ​​as a written language. It was not revived until the early 1990s.

Current situation

Due to the efforts of the Võro Institute , Võro ​​is now standardized. The language is taught in 26 schools. There with Uma Leht a bimonthly newspaper in Võro.

orthography

Võro flag

Võro uses a Latin alphabet (like Estonian and Finnish) . Most of the letters (especially ä, ö, ü and õ) refer to the same sounds as in standard Estonian. The following letters, which are rarely used in Standard Estonian , stand for other sounds: q is a glottal sound, y is a vowel similar to Russian ы , and the acute ´ denotes the palatalization of consonants : h́ , ḱ , ĺ , ń , ś , t́ etc. For typographical problems (as in Uma Leht ), an apostrophe ' can be used instead of the acute accent .

In the Võro ​​all consonants except j and q can be palatalized.

Differences from standard Estonian

  • In Võro, as in the Finnish and many other Urural languages or the Turkish language as a non-Ural language, there is the phenomenon of vowel harmony .
  • There are differences in morphology . For example, the standard Estonian forms the 3rd person singular by adding the ending -b to the inflection stem, while Võro ​​either by leaving out an ending or adding the ending -s:
German Estonian Võro
he writes kirjuta b kirota s
he gives anna b other

Among the Baltic Finnish languages, such a double verb conjugation is only found in Võro, Setukesian and Karelian .

  • There are also differences in some words from everyday language:
Estonian Võro meaning
punane verrev red
soe lammi warm
õde sõssar sister
uus vahtsõnõ New
koer pini dog
pesema mõskma to wash
hunt susi wolf
surema kuulma to die
sõstar hõrak Currant / currant
kask kõiv birch
nutma ikma cry
  • In Võro, the negative verb follows the negative verb, in Standard Estonian it precedes the negative verb:
Estonian Võro meaning
sa ei anna saq anna- aiq You don't give
ma ei tule maq tulõ- õiq I will not come

Web links

Wikipedia on Võro