The Tartu dialect (

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

: ') is a dialect of

South Estonian South Estonian, or Võro-Seto, is a Finnic language spoken in south-eastern Estonia, encompassing the Tartu, Mulgi, Võro and Seto dialects. Diachronically speaking, Estonian and South Estonian are in separate branches of the Finnic langua ...

spoken in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, near the city of

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. It bears similarities to Mulgi, particularly the Tarvastu and Helme varieties. It has historically, along with northern

Võro Võro may refer to: * Võro people, an ethnic group of Estonia * Võro language, a language belonging to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages of Estonia * Võro Institute, the governing organization of the Võro language * Õil ...

, been the basis for the South Estonian literary language.

Usage

In the

2011 Estonian census The 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC 2011) ( (''REL 2011'')). was a census that was carried out during 31 December 2011 – 31 March 2012 in Estonia by Statistics Estonia. The total actual population recorded was 1,294,455 persons. See a ...

, 4109 people were reported to be speaking the Tartu language, and in the 17310 people were reported to have spoken the language. It reached its peak in the 17th century and declined until the

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty on the left during the September 11 attacks, terrorist attacks on Sep ...

. Its speaker numbers have been increasing ever since, but the majority of speakers are aging, and there is a lack of media in Tartu. Revival movements for Tartu have not been as strong as those for the

Seto Seto may refer to: Places *Seto, Aichi, production place of Japanese pottery and venue of Expo 2005 * Seto, Ehime, facing the Seto Inland Sea * Seto, Okayama, adjacent to Okayama, in Okayama Prefecture *Seto Inland Sea of Japan *Setomaa (''Seto ...

, Mulgi and

languages.

Literature

Jakob Hurt Jakob Hurt ( – ) was an Estonian folklorist, nationalist, and theologian. He was a major figure in the Estonian national awakening and worked as a pastor in Otepää and Saint Petersburg. While he was president of the Society of Estonian Lit ...

's collection "Eesti mõtteloo" contains his sermons in the Rõngu dialect of Tartu. In modern literature,

Mats Traat Mats Traat (23 November 1936 – 27 June 2022) was an Estonian poet, poetry translator, and author. Career Traat was born in Arula, Otepää Parish. He debuted in 1962 with a collection of poetry. He published over 20 anthologies of poetry. ...

was the main user of Tartu.

References

Sources

* {{Portal bar, Estonia, Languages Languages of Estonia South Estonian language