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.
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:
Download an alphabet charts for Votic (Excel)
Information about the Cyrillic alphabet for Votic compiled by Wolfram Siegel.
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)"
Meil õli karjušid. Siz õli palkattu karjušiida nyd enempää eväd, eb õõ karjušiid, eväd, tšenni ep taho mennä karjušissi. Nyd tšävvää vuoroo.
We had shepherds. Back then, shepherds were hired, but not anymore, there are no shepherds, no, no one wants to be a shepherd. Now we take turns.
Source: https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatja#Kielinäyte
Information about Votic | Numbers
Information about the Votic language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Votic_language
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatja
http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Russia/Votian/Votian1.html
http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/votes.shtml
Estonian, Finnish, Karelian, Kven, Livvi-Karelian, Livonian, Ludic, Meänkieli, Seto, Veps, Võro, Votic
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 13.10.25
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