Võro

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A language of Estonia

ISO 639-3
vro
Alternate Names
Voro, Voru, Võro-Seto, Võru
Autonym
Võro kiil
User Population

87,000 in Estonia (2013 UNSD). Seto speakers: 12,500 (2011 census). Total users in all countries: 87,210.

Location

Põlva, Tartu, Valga, and Võru counties.

Language Maps
Language Status

6b (Threatened).

Classification
Uralic, Finnic
Dialects

Eastern Võro, Seto, Western Võro. Seto is very similar to Eastern Võro but many Setos consider Seto an independent language. A member of macrolanguage Estonian [est].

Language Use

Rapid shift to Standard Estonian [ekk]. Home, workplace. Some young people, all adults. Few children; most are elderly speakers living in rural areas.

Language Development

Taught in primary schools. Newspapers. Radio. TV. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 1686–1905. Promotion and revival of Võro, which includes teachers, politicians, poets, geographers, and administrators, attempting to increase the usage (2008 S. Iva).

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Võro
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Seto has a practical contemporary written form (for using in newspaper and other texts) which is not standardized to the level of written standard nor considered to be a standard written language (2019 S. Iva). Christian.

Also spoken in:

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