Re: Obscure languages

Frank Valoczy wrote:
>If you want, I can help you with learning Votian
>(Uralic/Finno-Ugric/Balto-Finnic; spoken by approx. 25 people in 5
>villages [incl. Krakolye and Luzhitsy] in Leningrad Oblast, north of
>Ivangorod in Russia), youngest speaker is in his early 60s).
Which means it's alot better of than Ingrian (Balto-Finnic, spoken in St
Petersburg) - the last I heard it had three native speakers, all over 60,
and that was three or four years ago. (Ingria is an old name pf the area
that St Petersburg lies in - once upon a time it was the Swdish province of
Ingermanland).

BTW, is it still officially called Leningrad Oblast? That'd be pretty
remarkable ...

>Obviously I'm
>not a native speaker, but my knowledge of it is thorough enough that I
>could carry on a conversation with a Vote in the unlikely event that I
>were to meet one. However, I do use it occasionally in speaking with
>Estonians, sometimes with amusing results.
How come you know Votian?

                                                  Andreas

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