Vadja kirjaviisist ja sõnaloomest

• Published in: Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri. Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics
• Main Author: Ernits, Enn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Tartu 2010
• Subjects: dialect background; votic
• Online Access: https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/jeful/article/view/jeful.2010.1.1.03; https://doi.org/10.12697/jeful.2010.1.1.03

To create an effective literary language, it is necessary to solve the following main problems: 1) selecting suitable dialect area(s); 2) establishing linguistic standards; 3) developing orthography; and 4) adapting the literary language to modern linguistic and cultural demands (Tauli 1968: 19). In solving these problems with regard to the Votic language, language planners can start from both general principles of language planning and the planning experiences of other Balto-Finnic literary languages, such as Estonian, Finnish, Võro and Veps. Today it is advisable to resolve the planning problems of minority languages as flexibly as possible. The author favours the Kattila dialect as the background for the written language, but does not exclude the use of other Votic dialects for this purpose. In the initial period of the Votic literary language at least there is no real need to determine strong norms. It is strongly advised that consistent use be made of a phonological writing system using the letters c, č, š, ž, õ, ä, ö, ü; ď, ń, ŕ, ź and ť. There is no need to designate the sandhi in the script. The language should be enriched with modern concepts where possible, with the creation of new lexis based on actual words and those borrowed from neighbouring languages. The formation of words is mainly the result of compounding and derivation, for example čehsi-škoulu ‘secondary school’ and nimezikko ‘list’ (< nimi ‘name’).