Võro Institute (Võro:Võro Instituut,Estonian:Võru Instituut) is anEstonian state research and development institution dedicated to the preservation and promotion of theVõro language and culture.
Võro (Võro:võro kiil'[ˈvɤrokʲiːlʲ],Estonian:võru keel) is a language belonging to theFinnic branch of theUralic languages.[1] Traditionally, it has been considered a dialect of theSouth Estonian dialect group of theEstonian language, but nowadays it has its own literary language[2] and is in search of official recognition as anautochthonousregional language of Estonia.[3][4] Võro has roughly 75,000 speakers (Võros) mostly in southeastern Estonia, in the eight parishes of the historicalVõru County (Karula,Harglõ,Urvastõ,Rõugõ,Kanepi,Põlva,Räpinä,Vahtsõliina) and the rest of Estonia.
The institute was founded by the Estonian government in 1995 and is located in the Southern Estonian town ofVõru. The directors of the institute have beenEnn Kasak,Kaido Kama and Külli Eichenbaum. The present director of the institute is Rainer Kuuba.[5] Researchers at the institute include the toponymistEvar Saar and the lexicographerSulev Iva.
The institute is engaged in a wide range of activities to meet the challenges facing lesser-spoken languages, including establishing school programs, conducting linguistic and regional research, preserving place-names and their corresponding stories (mostly byEvar Saar), publishing Võro-language scholarship and school textbooks, and organizing annual language conferences. The aim of these activities is to encourage the Võro people to speak their own language and to preserve their characteristic life-style.
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