Votic (vad’d’a tšeeli / mā tšeeli)

Votic is a Finnic language spoken in two villages, Krakolye (Краколье / Jõgõperä) and Luzhitsy (Лужицы), in the Kingiseppsky District (Кингисеппский район) of Ingria in the north west of Russia. According to the 2010 Russian census, there were 68 speakers of Votic, all of whom were elderly.

There were two dialects of Votic: East Vod and West Vod, however the last speakers of East Vod died in the 1960s. Votic is closely related to Estonian, and mutually intelligible with the Estonian spoken in the northeast of Estonia.

Efforts are currently being made to revive Votic with some lessons in the language in one school. However, it appears that few younger Votes are interested in the language.

Written Votic

Dmitri Tsvetkov, a Votic linguist, wrote a Votic grammar using a version of the Cyrillic alphabet in the 1920s. A way of writing Votic with the Latin alphabet was created by Mehmet Muslimov in 2004:

Cyrillic alphabet alphabet for Votic

Cyrillic alphabet for Votic

Latin alphabet alphabet for Votic

Latin alphabet for Votic

Notes

Some consonants are palatalized when they come before e, i, j and ü

Download an alphabet charts for Votic (Excel)

Information about the Cyrillic alphabet for Votic compiled by Wolfram Siegel.

Sample text in Votic

Исун теекырвылл
Ајаја вајылтыб веероа.
Ен тахо ылла сиинэ, кусса тулын.
Ен тахо ылла сиинэ, кухыы менен.
Михси терпитөисси
Нэен тэмээ вајылтыттава веероа?

a poem entitled "Вееровајылтамин (Бертолт Брехт)"

Sample Videos

Information about Votic | Numbers

Links

Information about the Votic language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Votic_language
https://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/vot/
http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Russia/Votian/Votian1.html
http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/votes.shtml

Finnic languages

Estonian, Finnish, Karelian, Kven, Livvi-Karelian, Livonian, Ludic, Meänkieli, Seto, Veps, Võro, Votic

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 19.12.23

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