Spotlight on Minority Languages – Ingrian

The language is also referred to as Izhorian.

• The name ‘Izhorian’ comes from the fact that it is spoken by the Izhorians, the indigenous people of the Ingria region located in the Baltic.

According to the 2010 census, there are 120 native speakers of the language.

• Most speakers are older adults.
• The language is listed as ‘severely endangered’ by UNESCO.
• Ethnologue classifies it in the 8b category – ‘nearly extinct’.

There are four established dialects, of which two are likely extinct.

• Hevaha (likely extinct)
• Soikkola
• Oredezhi (likely extinct)
• Lower Luga

Here is the alphabet:

Here is an Ingrian folk song:

For more resources for the language, visit this page.

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingrian_language
• Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. Paris, UNESCO Publishing. Online version: http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas
• http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/izh/