Võro leid

The **Võro leid** (, ) is a leid belangin tae the Baltic-Finnic branch o the Finno-Ugric leids. Tradeetionally it haes been considered a dialect o Sooth Estonian dialect group o the Estonian leid, but nouadays it haes its awn literary leid an is in sairch o offeecial recognition as an  regional leid o Estonie. Võro haes aboot 70,000 speakers (Võros) maistly in sooth-eastren Estonie, in the aicht parishes o historical Võru Coonty: Karula, Harglõ, Urvastõ, Rõugõ, Kanepi, Põlva, Räpinä, an Vahtsõliina. Thir parishes are currently centered (due tae redestrictin) in Võru an Põlva Coonties wi pairts extendin intae Valga an Tartu coonties. Speakers can an aa be foond in the touns o Tallinn, Tartu an the rest o Estonie.

## History
Võro is a descendant o the auld Sooth Estonian tribal leid an is the least influenced bi Staundart Estonian (which is based on Northren Estonian dialects). Võro wis ance spoken further sooth an east o historical Võromaa in Sooth Estonian-speakin enclaves Lutsi, Leivu an Kraasna in wha is nou Latvie an Roushie. In addition tae Võro, ither contemporary variants o Sooth Estonian include the Mulgi, Tartu an Seto leid or dialect.

Ane o the earliest written evidences o Sooth Estonian is a translation o the New Testament (*Wastne Testament*) published in 1686. Awtho the status o Sooth Estonian began tae diminish efter the 1880s, the leid began tae unnergo a revival in the late 1980s.

## Present situation
The day, Võro is uised in the wirks o some o Estonie's maist well kent playwrights, poets, an authors (Madis Kõiv, Ülle Kauksi, Jaan Kaplinski, Ain Kaalep etc.). Ane newspaper is printit in Võro: the fortnichtly Uma Leht (literally *Oor Awn Newspaper*). 26 public schools affer weekly special (maistly extracurricular) classes in modren Võro. 
Estonie's contreibution tae the Eurovision Sang Contest 2004 wis the sang "Tii", which wis performed bi Neiokõsõ in Võro. The leid is definitely endangered bi staundart Estonian due tae the lack o the govrenment's legal commitment tae pertect the leid.

## Writin seestem
Võro employs the Laitin alphabet, lik Estonian an Finnish.

Maist letters (includin *ä*, *ö*, *ü*, an *õ*) denote the same soonds as in Estonian, wi a few exceptions. The letter *q* staunds for the glottal stop  an *y* denotes , a vouel vera close tae Roushie *ы* or Pols *y* (frae 2005 written *õ*). The acute accent marks palatalization of consonants (lik in Pols): *ś*, *ń*, *ľ*, *ť*, , , , an sae on.

## Phonology
### Vouels

In Võro thare is vouel harmony, teepical o mony Finno-Ugric leids but lackin in modren staundart Estonian.

### Consonants

Aw Võro consonants (except  an ) can be palatalized. The glottal stop (q, IPA ) is a vera common soond in Võro.

## Differences amang Võro, Estonian an Finnish
* A significant difference atween staundart Estonian an the Võro leid is vouel harmony. Thare is nae vouel harmony in the majority o North Estonian dialects an staundart Estonian, but it exists in the Võro an Finnish leids; compare:

* Some morphological features o the Võro leid are considered toae be vera auld. For instance the 3rd body singular o the indicative muid can be aither athoot an endin or, alternatively, wi a *s*-endin:

Amang the Finnic leids, sic dooble verb conjugation can be foond anerlie in the Sooth Estonian an Karelian leids.

* Võro haes a negative particle that is appended tae the end of the verb, whauras standard Estonian an Finnish hae a negative verb, which precedes the verb. In Estonian an Finnish, the negative verb *ei* (Finnish *en/et/ei/emme/ette/eivät*) is uised in baith present an past negation, whauras in Võro the same is expressed bi different particles endin wi *-i(q)* or *-s*:

* Differences in vocabulary atween Estonian an the Võro leid can be clearly seen in iveryday speech (yet a common Estonian is able tae unnerstaund maist iveryday Võro wirds, syne mony o them exist in Staundart Estonian as dialectal synonyms for the wirds gien or in literary leid); mony Võro wirds are closer tae Finnish than tae Estonian:

## Leid example
Airticle 1 o the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Võro:
:

As comparison the same sentence in Staundart Estonian:
:

In Finnish:
:

## Basic greetins

*Tereq! - Hello! Guid day!
*(Tere) hummogust - Good fornuin
*(Tere) õdagust - Guid forenicht
*Hääd üüd / hüvvä üüd - Guid nicht
*Näemiq - See you later
*Hüvvä / hääd nägemist - Guidbye
*Rõõm nätäq - Nice tae meet you
*Aiteh / Aitjumma - Thank you
*Kuis lätt - Hou are you / Hou you doin?
*Häste - A'm fine
*Olõq terveq tulõmast! - Walcome!

## Important wirds an phrases

* jah / jaa - yes
* ei - no
* ma olõ - I am
* maq, saq, tä - I, you, he/she
* miiq, tiiq, nääq - we, you, thay
* seo - this, it
* taa / tuu - that, it
* muidoki - o course
* Mul om - A hae
* Sul om - You hae
* Kas sul om?  - dae you hae?
* Mul olõ-õiq - I hae no
* üts, kats, kolm, neli, viis - ane, twa, three, fower, five
* kuus, säidse, katõsa, ütesä, kümme -  sax, seiven, aicht, nine, ten
* sada, tuhat, mill'on - hunder, thoosan, million
* vabandust / pallõ andis - sorry or excuse me
* vesi - watter
* Eesti - Estonie
* Võromaa - Võro aurie
* võro kiil - Võro leid
* võrokõnõ - Võro (body)
* eestläne - Estonian (body)
* saa-i arvo - I daena unnerstaund
* saa arvo - (A) unnerstaund
* Kas võro kiilt mõistat? - Dae you unnerstaund Võro?
* Kas inglüse kiilt kõnõlõt? - Dae you speak Inglis?
* Ma olõ ingläne / ameeriklanõ / kanadalanõ / austraallanõ / vahtsõmeremaalanõ / iirläne / sotlanõ - A am Inglis / American / Canadian / Australian / New Zealander / Erse / Scots
* Kon sa elät / kon ti elät? - Whaur dae you live?

## See an aa
* Sooth Estonian leid
* Baltic-Finnic leids
* Võro Institute
* Uma Leht, newspaper in the Võro leid

## Notes

## Further readin
* Ehala, Martin & Niglas, Katrin (2007): Empirical evaluation o a mathematical model of ethnolinguistic vitality: the case of Võro. Jurnal of Multilingual an Multicultural Development.
* Eller, Kalle (1999): Võro-Seto leid. Võro Instituut'. Võro.
* Iva, Sulev; Pajusalu, Karl (2004): The Võro Language: Historical Development an Present Situation. In: Language Policy an Sociolinguistics I: "Regional Languages in the New Europe" International Scienteefic Conference; Rēzeknes Augstskola, Latvija; 20–23 Mey 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, Inglis 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 leid). Võro Instituut ja Eesti teaduste akadeemia Emakeele selts. Tallinn.
* Koreinik, Kadri (2007): The Võro leid in eddication in Estonie. Regional dossiers series. Mercator. European Research Centre on Multilingualism an Language Learnin (online: http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/PDFs/vo%CC%83ro_in_estonia.pdf ).
* Koreinik, Kadri; Pajusalu, Karl (2007): Language naming practices an linguistic identity in South-Eastern Estonie. – Language an Identity in the Finno-Ugric Warld. Proceedings of the Fowert International Symposium at the University of Groningen, Mey 17–19, 2006. R. Blokland an C. Hasselblatt (eds). (Studia Fenno-Ugrica Groningana 4). Maastricht: Shaker.

## Freemit airtins

* Võro leid an alphabet at Omniglot
*  Võro-Estonian dictionary (Võro Institute)
*  Võro Institute
*  Võro leid newspaper "Uma Leht"
* Audio example o Võro leid
* "Estonian dialects an layers" on http://www.estonica.org 
* Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: vro 
* 
*  Hamepage o computer programs in Võro 
*  Inglis-Võro dictionary o computer terms 
* Eurominority 
* Uralic languages (Salminen 2003)
*  Online games in Võro leid
*  Collection o cartoons in Võro