Беларуская мова: Гісторыя, распаўсюджанне і сучасны стан

East Slavic language

Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic language. It is one of the two official languages in Belarus, alongside Russian. Additionally, it is spoken in some parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine by Belarusian minorities in those countries. Before Belarus gained independence in 1991, the language was known in English as Byelorussian or Belorussian, or alternatively as White Russian. Following independence, it became known as Belarusian, or alternatively as Belarusan. About 6,984,000 (85.6%) of Belarusians declared it their "mother tongue". Other sources, such as Ethnologue, put the figure at approximately 3.5 million active speakers in Belarus. In Russia, the Belarusian language is declared as a "familiar language" by about 316,000 inhabitants, among them about 248,000 Belarusians, comprising about 30.7% of Belarusians living in Russia (data from Russian Census (2002) In Russian). In Ukraine, the Belarusian language is declared as a "native language" by about 55,000 Belarusians, which comprise about 19.7% of Belarusians living in Ukraine (data from 2001 Ukrainian census In Ukrainian). In Poland, the Belarusian language is declared as a "language spoken at home" by about 40,000 inhabitants (data from 2002 Polish general census Table 34 (in Polish) According to a study done by the Belarusian government in 2009, 72% of Belarusians speak Russian at home, while Belarusian is actively used by only 11.9% of Belarusians (others speak a mixture of Russian and Belarusian, known as Trasianka). Approximately 29.4% of Belarusians can write, speak, and read Belarusian, while 52.5% can only read and speak it. Nevertheless, only a small part of Belarusian pupils attend Belarusian elementary schools where the language of instruction is Belarusian (e. g. 13% in 2016) and there are no Belarusian language universities in Belarus. – derived from the name of the country "Belarus". It may also be spelled Belarusan (,/b//ɛ//l//ə/'/r//uː//s//ə//n///), a form used officially from 1992 to 1995 including in the United Nations and by diaspora.

Byelorussian (also spelled Belorussian, Bielorussian) – derived from the Russian language name of the country "Byelorussia" (Белоруссия), used officially (in the Russian language) in the times of the USSR (1922–1991) and, later, in the Russian Federation. White Russian or White Ruthenian (and its equivalents in other languages) – literally, a word by word translation of the parts of the composite word Belarusian. The term "White Ruthenian" with reference to language has appeared in English language texts since at least 1921. The oldest one, Latin term "Albae Russiae, Poloczk dicto" is recorded in 1381.

Grand Lithuanian (вялікалітоўская (мова)) – proposed and used by Jan Stankievič since the 1960s, referencing chancery language of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, intended to part with the "diminishing tradition of having the name related to the Muscovite tradition of calling the Belarusian lands" and to pertain to the "great tradition of Belarusian statehood". Kryvian or Krivian (крывіцкая/крывічанская/крыўская (мова), język krewicki) – derived from the name of the Slavonic tribe Krivichi, one of the main tribes in the foundations of the forming of the Belarusian nation. Created and used in the 19th century by Belarusian Polish speaking writers Jaroszewicz, Narbut, Rogalski, Jan Czeczot. Promoted by Vacłaŭ Łastoŭski.

Simple (простая (мова)) or local (тутэйшая (мова)) – used mainly in times preceding the common recognition of the existence of the Belarusian language, and nation in general. Supposedly, the term can still be encountered up to the end of the 1930s, e. g., in Western Belarus. It is widely used to this day in Pomerania in reference to the mixed Polish Belarusian dialects spoken there. Simple Black Ruthenian (простой чернорусский) – used in the beginning of the 19th century by the Russian researcher Baranovski and attributed to contemporary vernacular Belarusian.

Although closely related to other East Slavic languages, especially Ukrainian, Belarusian phonology is distinct in a number of ways. The phoneme inventory of the modern Belarusian language consists of 45 to 54 phonemes: 6 vowels and 39 to 48 consonants, depending on how they are counted. When the nine geminate consonants are excluded as mere variations, there are 39 consonants, and excluding rare consonants further decreases the count. The number 48 includes all consonant sounds, including variations and rare sounds, which may be phonetically distinct in the modern Belarusian language.

The Belarusian alphabet is a variant of the Cyrillic script, which was first used as an alphabet for the Old Church Slavonic language. The modern Belarusian form was defined in 1918, and consists of thirty two letters. Before that, Belarusian had also been written in the Belarusian Latin alphabet (Łacinka / Лацінка), the Belarusian Arabic alphabet (by Lipka Tatars) and the Hebrew alphabet (by Belarusian Jews). The Glagolitic script was used, sporadically, until the 11th or 12th century. There are several systems of romanizing (transliterating) written Belarusian texts; see Romanization of Belarusian. The Belarusian Latin alphabet is rarely used.

Besides the standardized lect, there are two main dialects of the Belarusian language, the North Eastern and the South Western. In addition, there is a transitional Middle Belarusian dialect group and the separate West Polesian dialect group. The North Eastern and the South Western dialects are separated by a hypothetical line Ashmyany–Minsk–Babruysk–Gomel, with the area of the Middle Belarusian dialect group placed on and along this line. The North Eastern dialect is chiefly characterized by the "soft sounding R" (мякка эравы) and "strong akanye" (моцнае аканне), and the South Western dialect is chiefly characterized by the "hard sounding R" (цвёрда эравы) and "moderate akanye" (умеранае аканне). The West Polesian dialect group is separated from the rest of the country by the conventional line Pruzhany–Ivatsevichy–Telekhany–Luninets–Stolin.

There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility among the Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian languages. Within East Slavic, the Belarusian language is most closely related to Ukrainian.

The rising influence of Socialist ideas advanced the emancipation of the Belarusian language still further (see also: Belarusian Socialist Assembly, Circle of Belarusian People's Education and Belarusian Culture, Belarusian Socialist Lot, Socialist Party "White Russia", Alaiza Pashkievich, Nasha Dolya). The fundamental works of Yefim Karskiy marked a turning point in the scientific perception of Belarusian. The ban on publishing books and papers in Belarusian was officially removed (25 December 1904). The unprecedented surge of national feeling in the 20th century, especially among the workers and peasants, particularly after the events of 1905, gave momentum to the intensive development of Belarusian literature and press (See also: Naša niva, Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas).

During the 19th and early 20th century, there was no normative Belarusian grammar. Authors wrote as they saw fit, usually representing the particularities of different Belarusian dialects. The scientific groundwork for the introduction of a truly scientific and modern grammar of the Belarusian language was laid down by the linguist Yefim Karskiy. By the early 1910s, the continuing lack of a codified Belarusian grammar was becoming intolerably obstructive in the opinion of uniformitarian prescriptivists. Then Russian academician Shakhmatov, chair of the Russian language and literature department of St. Petersburg University, approached the board of the Belarusian newspaper Naša niva with a proposal that a Belarusian linguist be trained under his supervision in order to be able to create documentation of the grammar. Initially, the famous Belarusian poet Maksim Bahdanovich was to be entrusted with this work. However, Bahdanovich's poor health (tuberculosis) precluded his living in the climate of St. Petersburg, so Branislaw Tarashkyevich, a fresh graduate of the Vilnya Liceum No. 2, was selected for the task. In the Belarusian community, great interest was vested in this enterprise. The already famous Belarusian poet Yanka Kupala, in his letter to Tarashkyevich, urged him to "hurry with his much needed work". Tarashkyevich had been working on the preparation of the grammar during 1912–1917, with the help and supervision of Shakhmatov and Karskiy. Tarashkyevich had completed the work by the autumn of 1917, even moving from the tumultuous Petrograd of 1917 to the relative calm of Finland in order to be able to complete it uninterrupted. By the summer of 1918, it became obvious that there were insurmountable problems with the printing of Tarashkyevich's grammar in Petrograd: a lack of paper, type and qualified personnel. Meanwhile, his grammar had apparently been planned to be adopted in the workers' and peasants' schools of Belarus that were to be set up, so Tarashkyevich was permitted to print his book abroad. In June 1918, he arrived in Vilnius, via Finland. The Belarusian Committee petitioned the administration to allow the book to be printed. Finally, the first edition of the "Belarusian grammar for schools" was printed (Vil'nya, 1918). There existed at least two other contemporary attempts at codifying the Belarusian grammar. In 1915, Rev. Balyaslaw Pachopka had prepared a Belarusian grammar using the Latin script. Belarusian linguist S. M. Nyekrashevich considered Pachopka's grammar unscientific and ignorant of the principles of the language. But Pachopka's grammar was reportedly taught in an unidentified number of schools, from 1918 for an unspecified period. Another grammar was supposedly jointly prepared by A. Lutskyevich and Ya. Stankyevich, and differed from Tarashkyevich's grammar somewhat in the resolution of some key aspects.

On 22 December 1915, Paul von Hindenburg issued an order on schooling in German Army occupied territories in the Russian Empire (Ober Ost), banning schooling in Russian and including the Belarusian language in an exclusive list of four languages made mandatory in the respective native schooling systems (Belarusian, Lithuanian, Polish, Yiddish). School attendance was not made mandatory, though. Passports at this time were bilingual, in German and in one of the "native languages". Also at this time, Belarusian preparatory schools, printing houses, press organs were opened (see also: Homan (1916)).

After the 1917 February Revolution in Russia, the Belarusian language became an important factor in political activities in the Belarusian lands (see also: Central Council of Belarusian Organisations, Great Belarusian Council, First All Belarusian Congress, Belnatskom). In the Belarusian People's Republic, Belarusian was used as the only official language (decreed by Belarusian People's Secretariat on 28 April 1918). Subsequently, in the Belarusian SSR, Belarusian was decreed to be one of the four (Belarusian, Polish, Russian, and Yiddish) official languages (decreed by Central Executive Committee of BSSR in February 1921).

A decree of 15 July 1924 confirmed that the Belarusian, Russian, Yiddish and Polish languages had equal status in Soviet Belarus. In the BSSR, Tarashkyevich's grammar had been officially accepted for use in state schooling after its re publication in unchanged form, first in 1922 by Yazep Lyosik under his own name as Practical grammar. Part I, then in 1923 by the Belarusian State Publishing House under the title Belarusian language. Grammar. Ed. I. 1923, also by "Ya. Lyosik". In 1925, Lyosik added two new chapters, addressing the orthography of compound words and partly modifying the orthography of assimilated words. From this point on, Belarusian grammar had been popularized and taught in the educational system in that form. The ambiguous and insufficient development of several components of Tarashkyevich's grammar was perceived to be the cause of some problems in practical usage, and this led to discontent with the grammar. In 1924–25, Lyosik and his brother Anton Lyosik prepared and published their project of orthographic reform, proposing a number of radical changes. A fully phonetic orthography was introduced. One of the most distinctive changes brought in was the principle of akanye , wherein unstressed "o", pronounced in both Russian and Belarusian as , is written as "а". The Belarusian Academic Conference on Reform of the Orthography and Alphabet was convened in 1926. After discussions on the project, the Conference made resolutions on some of the problems. However, the Lyosik brothers' project had not addressed all the problematic issues, so the Conference was not able to address all of those. As the outcome of the conference, the Orthographic Commission was created to prepare the project of the actual reform. This was instigated on 1 October 1927, headed by S. Nyekrashevich, with the following principal guidelines of its work adopted:
To consider the resolutions of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926) non mandatory, although highly competent material. To simplify Tarashkyevich's grammar where it was ambiguous or difficult in use, to amend it where it was insufficiently developed (e. g., orthography of assimilated words), and to create new rules if absent (orthography of proper names and geographical names). During its work in 1927–29, the Commission had actually prepared the project for spelling reform. The resulting project had included both completely new rules and existing rules in unchanged and changed forms, some of the changes being the work of the Commission itself, and others resulting from the resolutions of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926), re approved by the Commission. Notably, the use of the Ь (soft sign) before the combinations "consonant+iotated vowel" ("softened consonants"), which had been previously denounced as highly redundant (e. g., in the proceedings of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926)), was cancelled. However, the complete resolution of the highly important issue of the orthography of unstressed Е (IE) was not achieved. Both the resolutions of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926) and the project of the Orthographic Commission (1930) caused much disagreement in the Belarusian academic environment. Several elements of the project were to be put under appeal in the "higher (political) bodies of power".

In West Belarus, under Polish rule, the Belarusian language was at a disadvantage. Schooling in the Belarusian language was obstructed, and printing in Belarusian experienced political oppression. The prestige of the Belarusian language in the Western Belarus during the period hinged significantly on the image of the BSSR being the "true Belarusian home". This image, however, was strongly disrupted by the "purges" of "national democrats" in BSSR (1929–30) and by the subsequent grammar reform (1933). Tarashkyevich's grammar was re published five times in Western Belarus. However, the 5th edition (1929) (reprinted verbatim in Belarus in 1991 and often referred to) was the version diverging from the previously published one, which Tarashkyevich had prepared disregarding the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926) resolutions.

In 1929–30, the Communist authorities of Soviet Belarus made a series of drastic crackdowns against the supposed "national democratic counter revolution" (informally "nats dems" ). Effectively, entire generations of Socialist Belarusian national activists in the first quarter of the 20th century were wiped out of political, scientific and social existence. Only the most famous cult figures (e. g. Yanka Kupala) were spared. However, a new power group in Belarusian science quickly formed during these power shifts, under the virtual leadership of the Head of the Philosophy Institute of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, academician S. Ya. Vol’fson (С. Я. Вольфсон). The book published under his editorship, Science in Service of Nats Dems' Counter Revolution (1931), represented the new spirit of political life in Soviet Belarus.

A discussion on problems in Belarusian orthography and on the further development of the language was held from 1935 to 1941. From 1949 to 1957 this continued, although it was deemed there was a need to amend some unwarranted changes to the 1933 reform. The Orthography Commission, headed by Yakub Kolas, set up the project in about 1951, but it was approved only in 1957, and the normative rules were published in 1959. These rules had been accepted as normative for the Belarusian language since then, receiving minor practical changes in the 1985 edition. A project to correct parts of the 1959 rules was conducted from 2006 to 2007.

The process of government support for "Belarusization" began even before the breakup of the Soviet Union, with the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR passing a law on languages in 1990 that aimed for the gradual increase in prestige and general use of the Belarusian language over the next 10 years, followed by the creation that same year of a National Language Program to support this endeavor. After Belarus became independent in 1991, support for the cause of the Belarusian language gained prestige and popular interest, with the post Soviet Belarusian government the continued creation of policies to actively promote the use of the Belarusian language, especially in education. The creation of the 1994 Constitution declared Belarusian to be the sole official language, though Russian was given the status as "language of inter ethnic communication". In 1996, Russian language was given equal status to Belarusian following changes in the Constitution of Belarus and subsequently became Belarus's language of administration, business and education. In 1999, only 17% of pupils attended Belarusian language elementary schools in Belarus. Adam Maldzis considers that one of typological similarities is the official bilinguism both in Belarus and Ireland, and the low real status of the mother tongue. A spelling reform of the official Belarusian language, making the spelling of some words more similar to Taraškievič's system, was decided on July 23, 2008, and went into effect on September 1, 2010.

In the 2010s, the situation of Belarusian has started to change slightly due to the efforts of language advocacy institutions, of individual representatives of such educational, cultural, scientific and linguistic organizations as the Frantsishak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society, the Belarus Academy of Sciences, the Саюз беларускіх пісьменнікаў, and in response to the endeavours of pro Belarusian public figures from the media and communication field, musicians, philosophers, entrepreneurs and benefactors. The 2019 Belarusian census demonstrated that the Belarusian language is perceived as a native language of Belarus by ~60% of its population, however only ~25% use it in their everyday life. The Belarusian language has marginalized status in terms of usage in Belarus, despite being officially recognized as its state language (along with Russian language). According to Belarusian poet Julija Cimafiejeva, the majority of the books sold in Belarus were imported from Russia in 2019 and in comparison to Russian books the Belarusian language books are not common and mostly are related with educational purposes. Belarusian speakers in Belarus are viewed as those who are against the Lukashenko's government and politically motivated charges were applied to them.

There exists an alternative literary norm of the Belarusian language, named Taraškievica (Tarashkevica). Its promoters and users prevalently refer to it as Klasyčny pravapis (Classic orthography). Generally Taraškievica favors Polish inspired pronunciations (плян, філязофія) while regular Belarusian follows Russian inspired pronunciations (план, філасофія). Taraškievica also features a more phonetic spelling system, particularly using a separate letter for the [ɡ] sound, which is argued to be an allophone of [ɣ] rather than a phoneme.

Belarusian is represented by the ISO 639 code be or bel, or more specifically by IETF language tags be 1959acad (so called "Academic" ["governmental"] variant of Belarusian as codified in 1959) or be tarask (Belarusian in Taraskievica orthography).

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Belarusian:Усе людзі нараджаюцца свабоднымі і роўнымі ў сваёй годнасці і правах. Яны надзелены розумам і сумленнем і павінны ставіцца адзін да аднаго ў духу брацтва. The romanization of the text into Latin alphabet:Usie liudzi naradžajucca svabodnymi i roŭnymi ŭ svajoj hodnaści i pravach. Jany nadzielieny rozumam i sumlienniem i pavinny stavicca adzin da adnaho ŭ duchu bractva. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.