Working Papers

in European Language Diversity 4

Kadri Koreinik The Võru language in Estonia: An Overview of a

Language in Context

Mainz Ÿ Helsinki Ÿ Wien Tartu Ÿ Mariehamn Ÿ Oulu Ÿ Maribor

Working Papers in European Language Diversity is a peer-reviewed online publication series of the research project ELDIA, serving as an outlet for preliminary research findings, individual case studies, background and spin-off research.

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Publisher Research consortium ELDIA c/o Prof. Dr. Anneli Sarhimaa Northern European and Baltic Languages and Cultures (SNEB) Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Jakob-Welder-Weg 18 (Philosophicum) D-55099 Mainz, Germany Contact: [email protected]

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Working Papers in European Language Diversity 4

During the initial stage of the research project ELDIA (European Language Diversity for All) in 2010, "structured context analyses" of each speaker community at issue were prepared. These context analyses will act as a starting point for further deepened research by linguists, sociologists and lawyers. Thus, they will form the basis of further case-specific reports and the comparative report which will be the main outcome of the whole project. However, as these will be available for interested readers only at the end of the project, we wanted to publish shorter versions summarising our work so far already at this stage, thus providing up-to-date information for both the academic community and stakeholder groups. This paper, based on the context analysis by Kadri Koreinik, gives a brief and up-to-date overview of the status of and research about the Võru language in Estonia.

As all papers appearing in the series Working Papers in European Language Diversity, these context analyses have been subject to an anonymous peer- reviewing process. Whenever the present document is referred to, due reference to the author and the ELDIA project should be made. For more information about the ELDIA project see http://www.eldia-project.org/.

Working Papers in European Language Diversity 4

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION: SPEAKERS OF VÕRU IN ESTONIA ...... 1

2 SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT ...... 2

2.1 LEGAL AND POLITICAL POSITION ...... 2

2.2 ATTITUDES ...... 3

3 CULTURAL CONTEXT ...... 3

4 LANGUAGE ...... 5

4.1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LANGUAGE ...... 5

4.2 LANGUAGE CONTACT AND MULTILINGUALISM ...... 6

4.3 LANGUAGE USE AND MAINTENANCE ...... 7

5 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 9

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The Võru language in Estonia | 1

1 Introduction: Speakers of Võru in Estonia

As Võru is conventionally seen as a dialect of Estonian, the minority position of Võru- speakers as a linguistic minority is not fully acknowledged either by speakers or observers- researchers. Given the absence of clear definitions and official recognition, the size of the speech community remains a matter of interpretation. Nevertheless, Võru-speakers are an autochthonous speech community of bilingual Estonians, who have preserved their vernacular language in addition to Estonian, and who switch between Estonian and Võru depending on circumstances and audiences. The number of active and passive (potential) Võru speakers is estimated at 50,000. However, it is counted on the basis of self-reports and can easily be over-estimated. Despite the conscious building of an all-Estonian standard since the end of the 1800s, the vitality of Southern Estonian speech varieties has weakened only since the end of World War II. Southern Estonian, once a tribal language, has outlived the standardisation best in the peripheral South-eastern Estonia where Võru and Seto are spoken (Pajusalu et al. 1999).

Since the late 1980s, activist Võru-speakers have been engaged in the revitalisation of Võro and in respective identity-building. The so-called Võro Movement has drawn public attention to language loss. Given everyday observations, many Võru-speakers have, in addition to a strong Estonian identity, a strong local identity and call themselves võrokõsõ, ‘the Võros’. They mostly call their tongue võro kiil or võru kiil, ‘the Võro language’ or ‘the Võru language’ and refer less to toponyms or micro-ethnonyms. Some out-group observers – both linguists and laypeople – have grouped the tongue of the Setos, a neighbouring ethnic group, with that of Võru-speakers. This classification is objected to by both Võru-speakers and Setos, who perceive linguistic similarities and differences of speech in their own way.

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2 Socio-political Context

2.1 Legal and Political Position

Võru1 is not recognised as a language in Estonia but it is addressed as ‘regional variety’ by the Language Act (2011) which regulates official and public language use. There is no regulation on the use of Võru in the media, though it is used in National Public Service Broadcasting for short news and in the state-funded biweekly newspaper, which mostly has characteristics of print community media. Similarly, Võru is not addressed by educational legislation. The Võru language and literature is not present in the National Curriculum. However, the Place Name Act addresses Võru by stating that the spelling of a place name shall be in accordance with the rules of Estonian orthography and may reflect the local dialectal sound structure of the name.

Estonia has neither signed nor ratified the Charter on Regional or Minority Languages. In 2004, there was a law proposal to the government by the council of the state programme “Language and Culture of Southern Estonia 2000-2004” to recognise Southern Estonian varieties, including Võru, as regional languages in order to expand the domains of Southern Estonian, to improve its prestige and to remove legal gaps. A number of parliamentary factions, ministries and other relevant bodies discussed the proposal, but no consensus was reached. The issue was re-opened in 2009, when the legal drafts of the Language Act were discussed, but again no decision that could please both the proponents and opponents of legal recognition was reached. Most likely, the main argument against the legal recognition can be found in discourses of (language) endangerment (Koreinik 2011). When in the Soviet era, Estonian became the symbol of psychological resistance and the basis of ethnopolitical mobilisation for Estonians, in the re-independent Estonia, there were political ambitions to protect and to promote Estonian and to replace Russian, which was a vehicular language in the Soviet Union (Vihalemm 1999, Hallik 2001). Estonian, being often represented as an endangered language threatened by either Russification or Anglification, is seen in need of both protection and regulation by law. Furthermore, the analysis of the Southern Estonian

1 Võro, in Northern/Standard Estonian Võru, is originally the name of a town and a region (Võrumaa). Both form variants are used by Võru speakers themselves to denote their language. In addition, Võro is also used for the Võro(-Seto) standard language. Working Papers in European Language Diversity 4

The Võru language in Estonia | 3

legitimation discourse has demonstrated that the recognition of Southern Estonian varieties is often represented as undermining Estonian vis-à-vis Russian; therefore it seems safer to position Southern Estonian varieties into the cultural enrichment framework (Koreinik 2011).

Political representation of Võru-speakers among decision-makers has been inadequate to achieve the legal protection and institutional support for Võru. In the political agenda of Võru-speakers, language concerns, compared to employment issues and matters of regional policy, probably have a secondary place, which can be an illustration of a weakening desire to use the language.

2.2 Attitudes

A survey from 1998 indicates that Võru is a less prestigious language which may have covert prestige among some users. Social groups that are sensitive to (language) prestige – women, young people, educated people, and urbanites – reported less frequent language use (Koreinik 2007). However, it is not entirely clear whether language use is under or over- reported. Ehala and Niglas (2007) conclude that Võru is neither used nor valued in Estonian society. Most likely the low prestige ascribed to Võru is linked to its peripheral position compared with the Estonian prestige centres (see also Ehala 2004). Although language endangerment is the context of the representation of Southern Estonian (see Ch. 2.1 above), there is not enough information on the positive or negative attitudes the majority of Estonians may have towards Võru-speakers.

3 Cultural Context

Broadly speaking, the northern part of present-day Estonia has been culturally shaped by contacts with Scandinavian and coastal Finnish tribes, while the southern cultural area – traditionally divided into the Mulgi, Tartu, Võru and Setu tribal/dialectal areas – already in prehistoric times had more contacts with its inland and southern neighbours. The Võru- speakers’ vernacular has been preserved both because its linguistic distance from standard Estonian and the geographical distance from Estonian prestige centres. Their peripheral

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habitat in the South-eastern Estonian borderland has been one of the reasons why immigration has been insignificant compared to the Estonian centres and Central Estonia. The originality of the group of Võru-speakers is a disputed matter as their cultural practices are seen as a part of Estonian traditional peasant culture, which is a typical hybrid culture. With urbanisation, (self) colonisation, and globalisation the traditional lifestyles of Võru- speakers have become similar to those of speakers of common (and standard) Estonian.

On the other hand, Southern Estonia is still the biggest and the most important of Estonian cultural peripheries, which is often perceived as being closer to other Finnic cultures than to Northern Estonian; its folklore is described as the richest and most unique. The same holds true for the popular calendar. One of the most distinctive traditions and significant burial customs of Võro-speakers, unique in the whole of Europe, is cutting crosses into trees (Kõivupuu 1998). The earliest reports of cross-trees date back to the 17th century, and the latest were documented in the 2000s. There are some other cultural practices which are practiced more widely in south-eastern Estonia than the rest of Estonia: the tradition of smoke sauna, some dishes of Southern Estonian cuisine (e.g. a traditional unseasoned cottage cheese (sõir), smoked meat). Some newer cultural symbols and practices originate from the provincial differences of the 18-19th centuries: the Livonian Governorate, including most of Southern Estonia, had slightly different sacral landscape planning, architecture and religious conversion than the Estonian Governorate (Pae et al. 2006, Pae et al. 2009). Although the Christianisation of Southern Estonia was somewhat different from Northern Estonia, today, in the context of the decreasing importance of church and traditional religious doctrines and rituals in Estonian society, the Võru-speakers’ religious identity and practices are similar to that of other Estonians. Despite a few animist rituals in burial customs, religion and religious symbols do not distinguish Võru-speakers from the majority of Estonians.

Yet, in addition to the traditional (Southern) Estonian lifestyle, the characteristic features of Võru-speakers’ culture are in their literature, theatre, (pop) music, and in domains where language plays a key role. There are many poets, prosaists and essayists writing in the Võru language. Some of them are well-known all over Estonia (Madis Kõiv, Ain Kaalep) and in neighbouring countries (Jaan Kaplinski, Kauksi Ülle). There are a number of younger poets and songwriters performing in Võru. Some of their works and activities are known to a wider Working Papers in European Language Diversity 4

The Võru language in Estonia | 5

public, some are valued by particular audiences. Some actors and musicians of Southern Estonian origin are also known for their use of Võru. The selection of a Võru language song to represent Estonia in the Eurovision song contest in 2004 by the Estonian TV audience “is perhaps the widest international publicity that the Võru language and culture have ever reached” (Ehala & Niglas 2007: 431). A series of Võru-language song festivals called “Uma Pido” has opened new prospects for musicians, songwriters, performers, and pop groups. Different choirs with thousands of singers have been learning songs in Võru for “Uma Pido”.

In general, some of the everyday practices of the Võru-speakers are maintained with the traditional form of living (traditional cuisine, burial customs), some symbols (hit songs, national costumes) are introduced by the media or adopted anew. Given all the differences, nevertheless, most of the material culture of Southern Estonia has been integrated into all- Estonian cultural practices. While not all cultural aspects distinctive to Võru-speakers have been studied in detail, changing membership ideologies and identity-building definitely have a significant role in the cultural construction of Võru-speakers.

4 Language

4.1 General description of the language

Both Northern and Southern varieties of Estonian are traditionally classified in the southern subgroup of the Finnic languages. They share many central features, also due to historical processes such as the massive influence of German on both North and South Estonian. However, there are many features distinguishing Võru from Northern/Standard Estonian, on all levels of the language (for instance, sounds absent elsewhere such as the word-initial h, the glottal stop or the high illabial mid vowel, or morphosyntactic features such as the past- tense form of the negation word). (cf. Pajusalu 2007) Some of the abovementioned lexical and structural differences are disappearing fast while some withstand the pressures.

In general, the Võru variety, including Seto, with which it has been linguistically grouped, has all the typical characteristics of Southern Estonian and all the features distinguishing it from other Finnic languages. Nevertheless, despite linguistic similarities, the group identity of speakers allows talking about the two essentialised languages − Võru and Seto. Although the Working Papers in European Language Diversity 4

The Võru language in Estonia | 6

sub-dialects of Võru are mutually comprehensible, some speakers wish Võru to remain unstandardised or even consider standardisation impossible, setting more value on the authenticity and diversity of local sub-dialects.

A diglossic situation, where Võru has been used orally in informal settings and standard Estonian as the literary standard in formal settings, has been stable since the building of an all-Estonian standard (cf. Raag 1999). Since the end of the 1980s, a new Southern Estonian (Võru) standard has been developed by activist Võru-speakers, mostly L1 speakers. The underlying principles of the new Southern Estonian (Võro) standard were finding a compromise between sharp sociolinguistic markers, keeping specific Southern Estonian features and following the tradition of the old Southern Estonian (Tartu) literary standard. The standard is founded on “common Võro”, which in turn is based on traditional (sub)dialects of Võru, being, however, influenced by other Southern Estonian varieties and standard Estonian. “Common Võro” refers to ever-homogenising oral use, which includes less and less sharp regional linguistic traits, but also general all-Southern Estonian changes. The standardisation has led to a bilingual Võro-Estonian dictionary, which was published with 15,000 entries in 2002. (for more details see Iva 2002, 2007) Yet the new Southern Estonian (Võro) literary standard is not widely recognised and spelling debates continue. Although there is no empirical research into language stereotypes, according to observations people believe either that their own idiolect or their ancestors’ vernacular is the “genuine” Võru, or that the real Võru language does not exist anymore. Another belief is that, when written down, Võru loses its richness.

4.2 Language contact and multilingualism

The main language shift to the majority language – Estonian – took place in the 1960-1980s. A case study from 1991 first indicated a language shift: while informants born prior to 1935 preferred Võru over standard Estonian, the group born after 1960 demonstrated large in- group differences (Org et al. 1994). Today, according to Ehala (2006) the Võru language is moving from Stage 6 to Stage 7 of Fishman’s Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale for Threatened Languages: from “some intergenerational use” to “only adults beyond child- bearing age speak the language”. Instead of being caused by immigration, a language shift

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has likely been caused by socio-economic changes, (language) ideologies and (language) political decisions, including the all-Estonian standard-building.

The region where Võru is spoken is an ethnically homogenous area currently with a non- Estonian population of approximately 4%. Historically however, there have been a number of vehicular, power and other languages (Raag 1999). Due to a long period of Germanic domination, which started in the Middle Ages, German had a significant role in Estonia. Its role as a vehicular language decreased and was replaced initially by Russian in the course of Russification in the 19th century and then after World War II when Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, German, Russian and Estonian have been three “local” languages for some time.

The findings of the 1998 study demonstrate that the majority of the population reports bilingualism, while the level of multilingualism is not known for south-eastern Estonia. In general, in Estonia, the adult population with elementary education has learned no less than one foreign language at school: the recent study shows that a third of the population masters one foreign language and only one seventh of Estonian population, mainly Russian citizens and people without citizenship, is monoglot (for an outline, see Tender 2010). The command of English is decreasing within older generations (ibid.). There is no information either on attitudes towards multilingualism: whether representations of multilingualism differ for Võru and Estonian-speakers or whether command of Võru in addition to Estonian is considered bilingualism after all. There are only a few studies on contact induced changes in the Võru language. For example, Mets (2007) investigated morphological changes resulting from Estonian.

4.3 Language use and maintenance

TV episodes and regular short radio broadcasts, print and new media are available in Võru. Those have been funded from the state programme “Southern Estonian language and culture” and its follow up. Before the turn of the millennium, Võru had been used in all journalistic genres (Saar 2005). Since 2000, Uma Leht, which is published every other week with 10,000 copies and online, has been read regularly or occasionally by 3/4 of the

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residents of Võru and Põlva Counties between the ages of 15-74, which makes approximately 32,000 readers. As UL is the only entirely Võru language channel, other local newspapers have almost stopped using Võruo (ibid.). However, sporadic texts in Võru have been published in all-Estonian print media and in the blogosphere. Another example of Võru in the print media is the first Võru-language version of the oldest Estonian children’s magazine Täheke, which was published in February 2005, and other editions came out in the following years. The Võru versions of Täheke were distributed without charge among the first graders and those who study the Võru language in the Võru-speaking area. See also Koreinik (2007). There is plenty of pop and traditional music originating from Võru-speakers on YouTube. Võru is used sporadically in chat rooms, in the social communities and Internet forums.

Besides the boost of Võru language literature in the 1990s, theatre in Võru has also been very popular in the last few decades. It has been one of the most advanced performing arts where the use of Võru has been the most explicit. There have been many theatre companies and groups, e.g. professionals and (semi-) amateur performers, villagers and urbanites, adults and children, who have played in a number of plays staged inside and outside the region.

Still, Võru-language education is in decline. The Võru language is not used as a medium or taught as a subject in pre-school education. There have been only a few informal playgroups and a language nest-like initiative so far. Primary education includes years 1-9 in elementary school. The number of schools where the Võru language and local (cultural) history, literature, and folk music are taught in basic comprehensive school is dropping and the share of pupils who are studying Võru is rather small (for details see Koreinik 2007). At the moment it is not taught as a subject or used as a medium in (upper) secondary schools. In general, as the optional subject of Võru, which is an elective or an extra-curricular activity, does not belong to the national curriculum, Brown (2005) describes the Võru class like the other local aspects of culture as peripheral in the school environment or schoolscape.

Most teaching materials are developed, published and provided by the Võro Institute, which has been a state research and development institution in charge of language planning and maintenance since its foundation in 1995. The 1998 survey conducted by the researchers of

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the Võro Institute and University of Tartu suggests that the intergenerational transmission of Võru is interrupted (see also Ehala 2007). There is no solid empirical research other than this self-report on the language use of different generations. Some attempts of revitalisation of Võru by the Võro Institute have been more successful, some were not. There are a growing number of opportunities to use the language, but the collective desire is weak and the command of Võru is intra-generationally diverging.

The most relevant gap in the research on the Võru language is the lack of (micro) sociolinguistic research. There is no information on language acquisition and there is also no study that focuses on in-family inter-generational language transmission.

5 Select Bibliography

BROWN, KARA D. (2006). Learning the language. International, national & local dimensions of regional-language education in Estonia. Unpublished PhD dissertation. UMI Dissertation Services. ----. (2005). Estonian Schoolscapes and the Marginalisation of Regional Identity in Education. European Education Vol. 37, No. 3, 78-89. EHALA, MARTIN. (2007). Sustainability of double ethnic identity in majority-minority settings: The case of Estonian and Võro’. In Roger Blokland & Cornelius Hasselblatt (eds.) Language and Identity in the Finno-Ugric World. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium at the University of Groningen, May 17-19, 2006. Maastricht: Shaker, 44-54. ----. (2006). Keelevahetuse pööramisvõimalusi võru keelealal. In Helen Koks & Jan Rahman (eds.). Mitmekeelsus ja keelevahetus läänemeresoome piirkonnas. Publications of Võro Institute 18, 11–26. ----. (2004). Keelehoid ja mitmikidentiteet. In Karl Pajusalu & Jan Rahman (eds.). Keel ja identiteet. Publications of Võro Institute 16, 11–22. EHALA, MARTIN & NIGLAS, KATRIN. (2007). Empirical Evaluation of a Mathematical Model of Ethnolinguistic Vitality: the Case of Võro. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 6, 427-444. HALLIK, KLARA. (2002). Nationalising Policies and Integration Challenges. In Marju Lauristin & Mati Heidmets (eds.). The Challenge of the Russian Minority: Emerging Multicultural Democracy in Estonia. Tartu, Tartu University Press, 65–88. IVA, SULEV. (2007). Võru kirjakeele sõnamuutmissüsteem. Doktoritöö. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus. ----. (2002). Võro-eesti synaraamat. Tarto, Võro: Võro Instituut.

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KOREINIK, KADRI. (2011). Language ideologies in the contemporary Estonian public discourse: With a focus on South Estonian. Dissertationes Sociologicae Universitatis Tartuensis 4. Tartu: University of Tartu Press. ----. (2007). Võro. The Võro language in education in Estonia. Regional Dossiers Series. Ljouwert/Leeuwarden: Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning. KOREINIK, KADRI & PAJUSALU, KARL. (2007). Language naming practices and linguistic identity in south-eastern Estonia. In Roger Blokland & Cornelius Hasselblatt (eds.) Language and Identity in the Finno-Ugric World. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium at the University of Groningen, May 17-19, 2006. Maastricht: Shaker, 192-204. KÕIVUPUU, MARJU. (1998). Some Archaic Traits in the Contemporary Burial Customs in Southeast Estonia. Studies in Folklore and Popular Religion 3, 23-40. METS, MARI. (2007). Southern Estonian written standard and actual spoken language: variation of the past participle markers. Linguistica Uralica XLIII(3), 161-172. ORG, ERVIN et al. (1994). Vastseliina Sute küla elanike murdepruugist ja keelehoiakutest. Keel ja Kirjandus 4, 203–209. PAE, TAAVI; TAMMIKSAAR, ERKI; SOOVÄLI-SEPPING, HELEN. (2009). Historical Geography of Estonian Cattle Breeds. Trames: Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 13(63/58)(4), 357- 373. PAE, TAAVI et al. (2006). The Formation and Location Features of Estonian Cemeteries. Journal of Baltic Studies 37 (3), 277-297. PAJUSALU, KARL. (2007). Estonian Dialects. In Mati Erelt (ed). Estonian Language. 2nd ed. Tallinn: Estonian Academy Publishers, 231-272. ----. (1996). Multiple Linguistic Contacts in Southern Estonian: Variation of Verb Inflection in Karksi. Publications of the Department of Finnish and General Linguistics of the University of Turku 54. PAJUSALU, KARL & VELSKER, EVA & ORG, ERVIN. (1999). On recent changes in Southern Estonian: dynamics in the formation of the inessive. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 139, 87-103. RAAG, RAIMO. (1999). One plus one equals one: the forging of Standard Estonian. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 139, 17-38. SAAR, EVAR. (2005). Võron kielen käyttö Etelä-Viron vironkielisissä sanomalehdissä. In Olga Haurinen & Helena Sulkala (eds.). Tutkielmia vähemmistökielistä Jäämereltä Liivinrantaan. Vähemmistökielten tutkimus- ja koulutusverkoston raportti IV. Oulu: Oulu University Press, 98-104. SAAR, POLL. (2005). = The study of the readership of Uma Leht. TENDER, TÕNU. (2010). Mitmekeelsus Eestis Euroopa Liidu mitmekeelsuse ideaali taustal. Dissertationes de Mediis et Communicationibus Universitatis Tartuensis 9. VIHALEMM, TRIIN. (1999). Estonian language competence, performance, and beliefs on acquisition among the Russian-speaking inhabitants of Estonia, 1989-1997. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 139, 69-85.

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