Võro

Võro is a Finnic language spoken by the Võro people in southeastern Estonia, primarily in Võromaa, an area that covers parts of Võru County and adjacent regions in Valga, Põlva, and Tartu counties. It is one of the South Estonian languages and forms part of the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family. Võro is closely related to other South Estonian varieties, such as Seto, and shares features with Estonian but remains distinct enough to be considered a separate language by many linguists.

Võro has its own literary and oral traditions and uses a Latin-based alphabet with diacritics. The language exhibits its own phonology, vocabulary, and some unique orthographic conventions that differentiate it from standard Estonian. There are multiple dialects, and the degree of mutual intelligibility with Estonian varies.

In modern Estonia, Võro is the subject of revival and preservation efforts. Institutions and cultural associations promote the language through education, publications, media, and events. The Võro Institute and other groups work on standardizing orthography, compiling dictionaries, and supporting language use in schools, media, and public life. The language is used in regional media and cultural programming, including online content and a Võro-language Wikipedia.

Estimates of the number of speakers vary. It is widely regarded as endangered or vulnerable, with active work focused on encouraging transmission to younger generations and expanding domains of use in daily life.