The historical South Estonian (Võro, Seto, Mulgi and Tartu) language area with historical South Estonian language enclaves (Lutsi, Leivu and Kraasna)
South Estonian is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)
Division of South Estonian languages according to Petri Kallio's language tree from 2021.
South Estonian is either a Finnic language or an Estonian dialect, spoken in south-eastern Estonia, encompassing the Tartu, Mulgi, Võro and Seto varieties. There is no academic consensus on its status as a dialect or language.[2][3][4][5][6] Diachronically speaking, North and South Estonian are separate branches of the Finnic languages.[3][7]
Modern Standard Estonian has evolved on the basis of the dialects of Northern Estonia. However, from the 17th to the 19th centuries in Southern Estonia, literature was published in a standardized form of Southern Tartu and Northern Võro. That usage was called Tartu or literary South Estonian.[8] The written standard was used in the schools, churches and courts of the Võro and Tartu linguistic area but not in the Seto and Mulgi areas.
After Estonia gained independence in 1918, the standardized Estonian language policies were implemented further throughout the country. The government officials during the era believed that the Estonian state needed to have one standard language for all of its citizens, which led to the exclusion of South Estonian in education. The ban on the instruction and the use of South Estonian dialects in schools continued during the Soviet occupation (1940–1990).[9]
Since Estonia regained independence in 1991, the Estonian government has become more supportive of the protection and development of South Estonian.[9] A modernized literary form founded on the Võro dialect of South Estonian has been sanctioned.[10][11]
^"Rahva ja eluruumide loendus 2021 – eesti keelt kõnelev rahvastik murdekeele oskuse, vanuserühma, soo ja elukoha (haldusüksus) järgi, 31. detsember 2021" [Population and housing census 2021 - Estonian-speaking population by dialect proficiency, age group, gender and place of residence (administrative unit), December 31, 2021] (in Estonian).
^Grünthal, Riho; Anneli Sarhimaa (2004). Itämerensuomalaiset kielet ja niiden päämurteet. Helsinki: Finno-Ugrian Society.
^ abSammallahti, Pekka (1977), "Suomalaisten esihistorian kysymyksiä" (PDF), Virittäjä: 119–136
^Laakso, Johanna (2014), "The Finnic Languages", in Dahl, Östen; Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria (eds.), The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
^Pajusalu, Karl (2009). "The reforming of the Southern Finnic language area" (PDF). Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne. 258: 95–107. ISSN 0355-0230. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
^Salminen, Tapani (2003), Uralic Languages, retrieved 2015-10-17
^
Kallio, Petri (2007). "Kantasuomen konsonanttihistoriaa" (PDF). Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne (in Finnish). 253: 229–250. ISSN 0355-0230. Retrieved 2009-05-28. Note that reconstructed *č and *c stand for affricates [t͡ʃ], [t͡s].
^South Estonian literary language @google scholar
^ abSutton, Margaret (2004). Civil Society Or Shadow State?. IAP. pp. 116, 117. ISBN 978-1-59311-201-1.
^Rannut, Mart (2004). "Language Policy in Estonia" (PDF). Noves SL. Revista de Sociolingüística. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
^estonica. "Language, Dialects and layers". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
SouthEstonian is either a Finnic language or an Estonian dialect, spoken in south-eastern Estonia, encompassing the Tartu, Mulgi, Võro and Seto varieties...
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