[ otsi ] [ saada oma kommentaar ] [ selgitused ja abi ] [ estonica kohta üldiselt ] maps
  Society   Language   Dialects and layers
Language

 
Dialects and layers
  Standard Estonian has been mostly formed from the dialects of North Estonian. Besides North Estonian another tribal language spoken in prehistoric Estonia was Southern Estonian — the ancestral language for the other main dialect group of Estonian. The differences between those proto-languages are reflected in both the phonetics and grammar of Estonian dialects. Mulgi, Tartu, Võro and Seto dialects in the South Estonian language area can be clearly distinguished. The North Estonian language area includes the northeast coastal, eastern, central, western and insular dialects.

Estonian and South-Estonian dialects
Hiiumaa: Meide ööbik aa seaesta maeale läin
Saaremaa: Meite ööbik oo siasta mäale läind
Muhumaa: Meite üöbik uo sieoasta mõjale läin
Läänemaa: Meite ärjälend oo tänäkond maale läin
Vigala: Mede künnilind uu tänabö maeale läind
Kihnu: Mede künniljõnd ond tänävasta maalõ läin
Harju-Risti: Mete üöbik oo tänabu maeal läin
Kuusalu: Meie üöbik on tänävu muuale mend
Järvamaa: Me õitselind on tänavu maale läind
Põhja-Virumaa: Meie kirikiut one tänävu mojale lähänd
Vaivara: Mei sisokaine ono (olo) tänä vuo mojale mennö
Kodavere: Meie sisask one tänävuade mõjale lähnud
Karksi: Mee kiriküüt' om täo muial lännü
Southern-Tartumaa: Meie tsisask om tinavu muiale lännu
Võrumaa: Mii sisask um timahavva muialõ lännü
Setomaa: Mii sisas'k om timahavva muialõ l'änüq
Standard Estonian: Meie ööbik on tänavu mujale läinud
English: 'Our nightingale has gone elsewhere this year'

 
  Võro kiil (Võro language)
The Võro language is historically a dialect of the South Estonian language. Compared to other South Estonian dialects (Tartu and Mulgi), it has retained its characteristic features and has remained furthest from the standard written Estonian language.
 
  Thanks to the activities of the Võro Institute and summer universities of the Võro language and culture, the Võro language has by now been standardised. The earlier South Estonian literary language, which until the early 20th century strove to form the basis for the standard Estonian literary language, was founded on the Tartu dialect. The Võro language differs from the standard Estonian by its pronunciation, word alteration, syntax and vocabulary.
 
  Some morphological features of the Võro language are considered to be very old. For instance the 3rd person singular of the indicative mood can be either without an ending e.g. and ‘gives’, or, alternatively, with a s-ending e.g. kirotas ‘writes’; in standard Estonian respectively annab and kirjutab. Among the Finnic languages, such double verb conjugation can be found only in the Võro, Seto and Karelian languages.
 
  Another significant difference between standard Estonian and the Võro language is vowel harmony. There is a general rule in Finnic languages which determines that a front vowel in the first syllable (i.e. ‘ä’, ‘ö’ and ‘ü’) can only be followed by front vowels in the successive syllables, whilst a back vowel in the first syllable (‘a’, ‘o’ and ‘u’) is followed by back vowels. There is no vowel harmony in the majority of North Estonian dialects and standard Estonian, but it exists in the Võro language; compare standard Estonian küla and Võro külä.
 
  Differences in vocabulary between standard Estonian and the Võro language can be clearly seen in everyday speech:

Estonian Võro Meaning
punane verrev 'red'
soe lämmi 'warm'
õde sõssar' 'sister'
uus vahtsõnõ 'new'
koer pini 'dog
pesema mõskma 'to wash'
hunt susi 'wolf'
surema kuulma 'to die'
sõstar hõrak 'currant'
kask kõiv 'birch'
nutma ikma 'to weep'
oder kesv' 'barley'

 
  Another significant difference can be noted in negations. If in Võro the negative particle often follows the verb, then in standard Estonian it always precedes the verb:

Estonian Võro Meaning
sa ei anna saq anna eiq 'you (sg.) do not give'
ma ei tule maq tulõ õiq 'I do not come'

 
  In standard Estonian, the particle ei is used in both present and past negation, e.g. ei kirjuta ‘do(es) not write’, ei kirjutanud ‘did not write’; whereas in the south of the country the same is expressed by different particles, e.g. the present forms ei kirota or kirota aiq and the past forms es kirota or kirota es.
 
  The Inessive case in the Võro language has an -n-ending or an -h-ending (almost disappeared from usage), in standard Estonian an -s-ending, e.g.

Estonian Võro Meaning
külas külän 'in the village'
metsas mõtsah 'in the forest'

 
  The nominative plural in Võro is formed by a glottal stop (marked by the letter ‘q’), in standard Estonian with the help of the ‘t’-sound (marked by ‘d’):

Estonian Võro Meaning
külad küläq 'villages'
metsad mõtsaq 'forests'

 
  The glottal stop makes the spoken idiom of the South-East distinctively jerky as compared to the more ‘even‘ language of the North Estonia, and especially to the almost ‘singing‘ dialect of the islanders of the Western Estonian Archipelago.
 
  Several registers can be distinguished in Common Estonian that is, unlike some major European languages, close to the standard language. In addition to regional vernaculars resulting from dialectal background, the spoken language depends mostly on the education and social status of the speaker. The number and distribution of Estonian sociolects is nevertheless much more modest than in major European languages. The nationwide consolidation and quick social changes have minimised the social stratification of the language. The most popular types of sociolects are actually slangs used by particular age or professional groups, such as schoolchildren, musicians or scholars. Specific language contacts are an important source of the sociolinguistic differentiation. Prison jargon is largely based on Russian. Computers and the Internet have introduced a new type of English-based slang.
 
  An interesting sub-language of Estonian is Estonian Sign Language, used by about 2000 deaf people in Estonia instead of verbal Estonian.
 
    NEXT » Literary language

Development and status of the Estonian language History Dialects and layers Literary language Sound Vocabulary Morphology and word formation Cases Verb Syntax