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Tartu
tartu kiil tarto kiil
Native to	Estonia
Region	Tartumaa
Native speakers	17,310 (2021 census)[1]
Language family	Uralic Finnic South Estonian Ugala Ugandi Tartu
Standard forms	South Estonian literary language
Dialects	Sangaste-Karula Puhja-Rannu Võnnu-Kambja Tartu-Maarja Otepää
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	tart1244
Linguistic map of southern Estonia. Tartu is found north of theVõro-speaking area.
Distribution of Tartu speakers according to the 2021 census.

TheTartu dialect (Estonian:tartu keel) is a dialect ofSouth Estonian spoken inEstonia, near the city ofTartu. It bears similarities toMulgi, particularly the Tarvastu and Helme varieties. It has historically, along with northernVõro, been the basis for the South Estonian literary language.^[2][3]

In the2011 Estonian census, 4109 people were reported to be speaking the Tartu language, and in the2021 census [et] 17310 people were reported to have spoken the language.^[1]

It reached its peak in the 17th century and declined until the 2000s. 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 theSeto,Mulgi andVõro languages.

Jakob Hurt's collection "Eesti mõtteloo" contains his sermons in the Rõngu dialect of Tartu. In modern literature,Mats Traat was the main user of Tartu.

• South Estonian

• Velsker, Mart (7 July 2015)."South Estonian Literature: A New Phenomenon with a Centuries-long History".Interlitteraria.20 (1): 115.doi:10.12697/IL.2015.20.1.9.ISSN 2228-4729.

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• South Estonian language

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