(in English)
Spoken natively in Belarus,
Poland, in 14 other countries.
Ethnicity Belarusians.
Native speakers 9.1
million (2001).
Language family Indo-European,
Balto-Slavic, Slavic, East Slavic, Belarusian.
Writing system Cyrillic,
Latin.
The Belarusian language (беларуская мова: byelaruskaya
mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova, łac.: biełaruskaja mova),
sometimes referred to as White Ruthenian, is the language of the
Belarusian people. It is an official language of Belarus, along with Russian,
and is spoken abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. Prior to Belarus
gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the language was known
in English as Byelorussian or Belorussian, transliterating the
Russian name, белорусский язык, or alternatively as White Ruthenian
or White Russian. Following independence, it became known also as
Belarusian.
Belarusian is one of the East Slavic languages, and shares many grammatical
and lexical features with other members of the group. To some extent, Russian,
Ukrainian and Belarusian are mutually intelligible. Its predecessor stage is
known as Old Belarusian (14th to 17th centuries), in turn descended from Old
East Slavic (10th to 13th centuries).
According to the 1999 Belarus Census, the Belarusian language is declared as
a "language spoken at home" by about 3,686,000 Belarusian citizens
(36.7% of the population) as of 1999. About 6,984,000 (85.6%) of Belarusians
declared it their "mother tongue". Other sources put the
"population of the language" as 6,715,000 in Belarus and 9,081,102 in
all countries. According to a study done by the Belarusian government in 2009,
72% of Belarusians speak Russian at home, while Belarusian is used by only
11.9% of Belarusians. 29.4% of Belarusians can write, speak and read
Belarusian, while only 52.5% can read and speak it. According to the research,
one out of ten Belarusians does not understand Belarusian.
Phonology
Although closely related to other East Slavic languages, Belarusian
phonology is distinct in a number of ways. The phonemeinventory 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 depresses the count.
The number 48 includes all consonant sounds, including variations and
rare sounds, which may be semantically distinct in the modern Belarusian
language.
Alphabet
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 identified in 1918, and consists of thirty-two letters.
Prior to this, Belarusian had also been written in the Belarusian Latin
alphabet (Łacinka / Лацінка) and the Belarusian Arabic alphabet. The Glagolitic
script had been used, sporadically, until the 11th or 12th century.
There are several systems of romanizing (transliterating) written
Belarusian text in existence; see Romanization of Belarusian.
Grammar
Standardized Belarusian grammar in its modern form was adopted in 1959,
with minor amendments in 1985. It was developed from the initial form set down
by Branislaw Tarashkyevich (first printed in Vilnius, 1918). Historically,
there had existed several other alternative standardized forms of Belarusian
grammar.
Belarusian grammar is mostly synthetic and partly analytic. Belarusian
orthography is constructed on the phonetic principle, and is mainly based on on
the Belarusian folk dialects of Minsk-Vilnius region.
Dialects
Besides the literary norm, there exist two main dialects of the Belarusian
language, the North-Eastern and the South-Western. In addition, there exist the
transitional Middle Belarusian dialect group and the separate West Palyesian
dialect group.
The North-Eastern and the South-Western dialects are separated by a
hypothetical line Ashmyany–Minsk–Babruysk–Homyel, 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 Palyesian dialect group is more distinct linguistically, close to
Ukrainian language in many aspects, and is separated by the conventional line
Pruzhany–Ivatsevichy–Telekhany–Luninyets–Stolin.
Classification and
relationship to other languages
The question of whether contemporary Belarusian and Russian (as well as
Ukrainian and Rusyn) are dialects of a single language or separate languages is
not entirely decided by linguistic factors alone. This is because there is a
high degree of mutual intelligibility. As members of the East Slavic group of
languages, they are descended from a common ancestor. Although Belarusian,
Russian, and Ukrainian are usually listed by linguists as separate languages,
one source lists them, with Rusyn, as four inner-languages within a single
outer-language.
Within East Slavic, the Belarusian language is most closely related to
Ukrainian.
Names
There are a number of names under which the Belarusian language has been
known, both contemporary and historical. Some of the most dissimilar are from
the Old Belarusian period.
Official, romanized Belarusian (also spelled Belarusan, Belarussian,
Byelarussian) – derived from the Belarusian name of the country
"Belarus", officially approved for use abroad by the Belarusian
authorities (ca. 1992) and promoted since then.
Byelorussian (also spelled Belorussian, Bielorussian
) – derived from the Russian name of the country "Byelorussia"
(Russian: Белоруссия), used officially (in the Russian
language) in the times of the USSR, and, later, in Russia.
White Ruthenian (and its equivalents in other languages) –
literal, a word-by-word translation of the parts of the composite word Belarusian.
Alternative
Great Lithuanian (вялікалітоўская (мова)) – proposed and used by Yan Stankyevich since the 1960s, 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), Polish: 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. Strongly
promoted by Vaclau Lastouski.
Vernacular
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.
Simple Black Ruthenian (Russian: простой чернорусский) – used in the beginning of the 19th century by
the Russian researcher Baranovski and attributed to contemporary vernacular
Belarusian.
History
The modern Belarusian language was redeveloped on the base of the vernacular
spoken remnants of the Old Belarusian language, surviving in the ethnic
Belarusian territories in the 19th century. The end 18th century (the times of
the Divisions of Commonwealth) is the usual conventional borderline
between the Old Belarusian language and Modern Belarusian language stages of
development.
By the end 18th century, the (Old) Belarusian language was still common
among the smaller nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). Jan Czeczot
in 1840s had mentioned that even his generation’s grandfathers preferred
speaking (Old) Belarusian. (According to A. N. Pypin, the Belarusian language
was spoken in some areas among the smaller nobility during the 19th century.[16])
In its vernacular form, it was the language of the smaller town dwellers and of
the peasantry and it had been the language of the oral forms of the folklore.
The teaching in Belarusian was conducted mainly in schools run by the Basilian
order.
The development of the Belarusian language in the 19th century was strongly
influenced by the political conflict in the territories of the former GDL,
between the Russian Imperial authorities, trying to consolidate their rule over
the "joined provinces" and the Polish and Polonised nobility, trying
to bring back its pre-Partitions rule (see also: Polonization in times of Partitions).
One of the important manifestations of this conflict was the struggle for
the ideological control over the educational system. The Polish and Russian
language were being introduced and re-introduced, while the general state of
the people's education remained poor until the very end of the Russian Empire.
Summarily, the first two decades of the 19th century had seen the
unprecedented prosperity of the Polish culture and language in the former GDL
lands, had prepared the era of such famous "Belarusians by birth – Poles
by choice," as Mickiewicz and Syrokomla. The era had seen the effective
completion of the Polonization of the smallest nobility, the further reduction
of the area of use of the contemporary Belarusian language, and the effective folklorization
of the Belarusian culture.
Due both to the state of the people's education and to the strong positions
of Polish and Polonized nobility, it was only since the 1880s–1890s, that the
educated Belarusian element, still shunned because of "peasant origin",
began to appear in the state offices.
In 1846, ethnographer Shpilevskiy prepared the Belarusian grammar (using
Cyrillic alphabet) on the basis of the folk dialects of the Minsk region.
However, the Russian Academy of Sciences refused to print his submission, on
the basis that it had not been prepared in a sufficiently scientific manner.
Since the mid-1830s, the ethnographical works began to appear, and the
tentative attempts to study the language were instigated (e.g., Belarusian
grammar by Shpilevskiy). The Belarusian literature tradition began to re-form,
basing on the folk language, initiated by the works of Vintsent
Dunin-Martsinkyevich. See also: Jan Czeczot, Jan Barszczewski.
In the beginning of the 1860s, both Russian and Polish parties in Belarusian
lands had begun to realise that the decisive role in the upcoming conflicts was
shifting to the peasantry, overwhelmingly Belarusian. So, a large amount of
propaganda appeared, targeted at the peasantry and prepared in the Belarusian
language. Notably, the anti-Russian, anti-Tsarist, anti-Orthodox
"Manifest" and the newspaper "Peasants' Truth" (1862–1863)
by Kalinowski, the anti-Polish, anti-Revolutionary, pro-Orthodox booklets and
poems (1862).
The advent of the all-Russian "narodniki" and Belarusian national
movements (end 1870s – beg. 1880s) renewed interest in the Belarusian language
(see also: Homan (1884), Bahushevich, Yefim Karskiy, Dovnar-Zapol'skiy,
Bessonov, Pypin, Sheyn, Nosovich). The Belarusian literary tradition was
renewed, too (see also: F. Bahushevich). It was in these times that F.
Bahushevich made his famous appeal to Belarusians: "Do not forsake our
language, lest you pass away" (Belarusian: Не пакідайце ж мовы нашай, каб не ўмёрлі).
In course of the 1897 Russian Empire Census, about 5.89 million people
declared themselves speakers of the Belarusian language.
The end of the 19th century however still showed that the urban language of
Belarusian towns remained either Polish or Russian and in the same census towns
exceeding 50000 had Belarusian speakers of less than a tenth. This state of
affairs greatly contributed to a perception that Belarusian is a
"rural" and "uneducated" language.
However the census was a major breakthrough for the first steps of the
Belarusian national self-conscience and identity, as it clearly showed to the
Imperial authorities, and the still strong Polish minority that the population
and the language was neither Polish nor Russian.
1900s-1910s
The rising influence of Socialist ideas advanced the process of emancipating
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", Tsyotka,
Nasha Dolya). The fundamental works of Yefim Karskiy marked a turning point in
the scientific perception of Belarusian language. The ban on publishing books
and papers in Belarusian was officially removed (1904-12-25). The unprecedented
surge of the national feeling, especially among the workers and peasants,
coming in the 20th century, esp. after the events of 1905, gave momentum to the
intensive development of the Belarusian literature and press (see also: Naša
niva, Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas).
Grammar
During the 19th – 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 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 would be trained under his supervision in order to be able to create
documentation of the grammar. Initially, 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 then 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 help and supervision of academicians Shakhmatov and Karskiy.
Tarashkyevich had completed the work by the Fall 1917, even having to go from
the tumultuous Petrograd of 1917 to relatively calm Finland in order to be able
to complete it uninterrupted.
By Summer 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, Tarashkyevich's grammar had apparently
been slated for adoption 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, Tarashkyevich arrived in Vil'nya, via Finland. The Belarusian
Committee petitioned for the administration to allow the book to be printed.
Finally, the 1st edition of the "Belarusian grammar for schools" was
printed (Vil'nya, 1918).
There existed at least two other contemporary attempts at codification of
the Belarusian grammar. In 1915, rev. Balyaslaw Pachopka had prepared a
Belarusian grammar using the Latin script. Belarusian linguist S. M.
Nyekrashevich considered B. Pachopka's grammar unscientific and ignorant of the
principles of the Belarusian language. In 1918, for an unspecified period, B.
Pachopka's grammar was reportedly taught in an unidentified number of schools.
Another grammar was, supposedly, jointly prepared by A. Lutskyevich and Ya.
Stankyevich, and differed from Tarashkyevich's grammar somewhat in resolution
of some key aspects.
1914-1917
On December 22, 1915, Hindenburg issued an order on schooling in German
Army occupied territories (of contemp. Russian Empire), banning schooling in
Russian and including the Belarusian language in the exclusive list of the four
languages being mandatory in the respective native schooling systems
(Belarusian, Lithuanian, Polish, Yiddish). School attendance was not made
mandatory, though. Passports at this time were bi-lingual, 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)).
1917-1920
After the 1917 February Revolution in Russia, the Belarusian language
became an important factor in the political activities in the Belarusian lands
(see also: Central Council of Belarusian Organisations, Great Belarusian
Council, I All-Belarusian Congress, Belnatskom). In the Belarusian People's
Republic, Belarusian was used as its only official language (decreed by
Belarusian People's Secretariat, 1918-04-28). Subsequently, in the Belarusian
SSR, Belarusian was decreed to be one of the four (Belarusian, Polish, Russian,
Yiddish) official languages (decreed by Central Executive Committee of BSSR,
February 1921).
1920-1930
Soviet Belarus
In BSSR, the Tarashkyevich’s grammar had been officially accepted for use
in state schooling after its re-publishing in the unchanged form by Yazep
Lyosik under the name Ya. Lyosik. Practical grammar. P[art]. I (1922).
This grammar had been re-published once again, unchanged, by the Belarusian
State Publishing House under the name Ya. Lyosik. Belarusian language.
Grammar. Ed. I. 1923 (1923).
In 1925, Yazep Lyosik introduced two new chapters to the grammar,
addressing the orthography of combined words and partly modifying the
orthography of assimilated words. Hence, 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 cause of some problems in practical usage, and this led to
discontent with the grammar.
In 1924–1925, Yazep Lyosik and 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 (Belarusian: ́аканне), wherein unstressed "o", pronounced in both Russian and Belarusian
as [a], is written as "а". Consequently, words like [malaˈko]
are pronounced the same in both languages but written as молоко in Russian and малако in Belarusian.
The Belarusian Academic Conference on Reform of the Orthography and
Alphabet was called in 1926. After discussions on the project the Conference
had made resolutions on some of the problems. However, a project run by the
Lyosik brothers hadn’t addressed all of the problematic issues, so the
Conference was not able to address all of those either.
At the outcome of the conference, the Orthographic Commission was created
to prepare the project of the actual reform. This was instigated on 1927-10-01,
headed by S. Nyekrashevich, with the following principal guidelines of its work
adopted:
To consider the resolutions of the Belarusian Academical 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
the assimilated words), and to create new rules if absent (orthography of the
proper names and geographical names).
During its work in 1927-1929, the Commission had actually prepared the
project of the reform of the orthography. The resulting project had included
both completely new rules and existing rules in unchanged and changed forms,
with those changed being, variously, the outcome of the work of the Commission
itself, or the resolutions of Belarusian Academical Conference (1926), re-approved
by the Commission.
Notably, the use of the Ь (soft sign) before the combinations
"consonant+iotified vowel" ("softened consonants"), which
had been denounced as highly redundant before (e.g., in the proceedings of the
Belarusian Academic Conference (1926)), had been cancelled. However, the
complete resolution of the highly important issue of the orthography of the
un-stressed Е (IE) had not been 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."
West Belarus
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 of 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 (1929–1930) and by
the following grammar reform (1933).
Tarashkyevich's grammar was re-published five times in Western Belarus.
However, the 5th edition (1929) (re-printed verbatim in Belarus in 1991 and
often referenced to) was the version diverting from the previously
published, which Tarashkyevich had prepared disregarding the Belarusian
Academic Conference (1926) resolutions.
1930s
Soviet Belarus
In 1929–1930, the Communist authorities of Soviet Belarus made a series of
drastic crackdowns against the supposed "national-democratic
counter-revolution" (informally "nats-dems" (Belarusian: нац-дэмы)). Effectively, entire generations of Socialist
Belarusian national activists in the first quarter of the 20th century had been
wiped out from 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
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 the political life in Soviet Belarus.
1933 reform of Belarusian grammar
The Reform of Belarusian Grammar (1933) had been brought out quite
unexpectedly, supposedly, [Stank 1936] with the project published in the
central newspaper of the Belarusian Communist Party "Zviazda" on
1933-06-28 and the decree of the Council of People’s Commissaries (Council of
Ministers) of BSSR issued on 1933-08-28, to gain the status of law on
1933-09-16.
There had been some post-factum speculations, too, that the 1930 project of
the reform (as prepared by the people no longer politically "clean"),
had been given for the "purification" to the "nats-dems"
competition in the Academy of Sciences, which would explain the
"block" nature of the differences between the 1930 and 1933 versions.
Peculiarly, Yan Stankyevich in his notable critique of the reform [Stank 1936]
didn’t mention the project prepared by 1930, dating the project of the reform
to 1932.
The reform resulted in the grammar officially used, with further
amendments, in Byelorussian SSR and modern Belarus. Sometimes this grammar is
called official grammar of Belarusian language, to distinguish it from
the pre-reform grammar, known as classic grammar or Taraškievica
(Tarashkevitsa). It is also known as narkamauka, after the word narkamat,
a Belarusian abbreviation for People's Commissariat (ministry). The latter term
bears a derogatory connotation.
The officially announced causes for the reform were:
The pre-1933 grammar was maintaining artificial barriers between the
Russian and Belarusian languages.
The reform was to cancel the influences of the Polonisation corrupting the
Belarusian language.
The reform was to remove the archaisms, neologisms and vulgarisms,
supposedly introduced by the "national-democrats."
The reform was to simplify the grammar of the Belarusian language.
The reform had been accompanied by the fervent press campaign directed
against the "nats-dems not yet giving up."
The decree had been named On Changing and Simplifying the Belarusian
Orthography («Аб зменах і
спрашчэнні беларускага правапісу»), but the bulk of the changes had been introduced into the grammar. Yan
Stankyevich in his critique of the reform talked about 25 changes, with 1 of
them being strictly orthographic, and 24 relating to both orthography and
grammar. [Stank 1936]
It is worth noticing, that many of the changes in the orthography proper
("stronger principle of AH-ing," "no redundant soft sign,"
"uniform ’’nye’’ and ’’byez’’") had been, in fact, just
implementations of the earlier propositions of the by then repressed persons
(e.g., Yazep Lyosik, Lastowski, Nyekrashevich, 1930 project). [BAC 1926][Nyekr
1930][Padluzhny 2004]
The morphological principle in the orthography had been strengthened, which
also had been proposed in 1920s. [BAC 1926]
The "removal of the influences of the Polonisation" had been
represented, effectively, by the:
Reducing the use of the "consonant+non-iotified vowel" in
assimilated Latinisms in favor of "consonant+iotified vowel," leaving
only Д, Т, Р unexceptionally "hard."
Changing the method of representation of the sound "L" in the
Latinisms to another variant of the Belarusian sound Л (of 4 variants
existing), rendered with succeeding non-iotified vowels instead of iotified.
Introducing the new preferences of use of the letters Ф over Т for fita,
and В over Б for beta, in Hellenisms. [Stank 1936]
The "removing of the artificial barriers between the Russian and
Belarusian languages" (virtually the often-quoted "Russification of
the Belarusian language," which may well happen to be a term coined by Yan
Stankyevich) had, according to Stankyevich, moved the normative Belarusian
morphology and syntax closer to their Russian counterparts, often removing from
the use the indigenous features of the Belarusian language. [Stank 1936]
Stankyevich also observed that some components of the reform had moved the
Belarusian grammar to the grammars of other Slavonic languages, which would
hardly be its goal. [Stank 1936]
West Belarus
In West Belarus, there had been some voices raised against the reform,
chiefly by the non-Communist/non-Socialist wing of the Belarusian national
scene. Yan Stankyevich named Belarusian Scientific Society, Belarusian National
Committee, Society of the friends of Belarusian linguistics in the Wilno University.
[Stank 1936] Certain political and scientific groups and figures went on with
using the pre-reform orthography and grammar, however, thus multiplying and
differing versions.
However, the reformed grammar and orthography had been used, too, e.g., during
the process of S. Prytytski (1936).
Second World War
In times of Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany (1941–1944), the
Belarusian collaborationists influenced the newspapers and the schools to use
the Belarusian language. This variant did not use any of the post-1933 changes
in vocabulary, orthography and grammar. Much publishing in Belarusian Latin
script was done. In general, in the publications of the Soviet partisan
movement in Belarus, the normative 1934 grammar was used.
Post Second World War
After the Second World War, several major factors influenced the
development of the Belarusian language. The most important was the
implementation of "rapprochement and unification of Soviet people"
policy which resulted in Russian language by 1980s effectively and officially
assuming the role of principal mean of communication, with Belarusian relegated
to a secondary role. The post-war growth of circulation of publishing in
Belarusian in BSSR drastically lagged behind those in Russian. The use of Belarusian
as main language of education was gradually limited to rural schools and
humanitarian faculties. While officially much lauded, the language was
popularly imaged as "uncultured, rural language of rural people".
That was the source of concern for the nationally minded and caused, e.g.,
the series of publications by Barys Sachanka in 1957–1961 and the text named
"Letter to Russian friend" by Alyaksyey Kawka (1979). Interestingly,
the contemporary BSSR Communist party leader Kirill Mazurov made some tentative
moves to strengthen the role of Belarusian language in the 2nd half 1950s.
However, the support of the Belarusian could also be easily considered
"too strong" and even identified with the support of "Belarusian
nationalists and fascists".
After the beginning of Perestroika and relaxing of the political control in
end 1980s, the new campaign in support of the Belarusian language was mounted
in BSSR, expressed in "Letter of 58" and other publications,
producing certain level of popular support and resulting in the BSSR Supreme
Soviet ratifying the "Law on languages" ("Закон аб мовах";
January 26, 1990) mandating the strengthening of the role of Belarusian in the
state and civic structures.
1959 reform of grammar
The discussion on problems of the Belarusian orthography and on the further
development of language was held from 1935–1941. From 1949–1957 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. This grammar 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 grammar was conducted from
2006–2007.
Post 1991
After Belarusian independence, the Belarusian language gained in prestige
and popular interest. However, the implementation of the 1992–1994 "Law on
languages" was conducted in such a way that it provoked public protests
and was dubbed "Landslide Belarusization" and
"undemocratic" by those opposing it in 1992–1994. In a controversial
referendum held on 14 May 1995 the Belarusian language lost its exclusive
status as the only state language. The state support of Belarusian language and
culture in general has dwindled since then.
Taraškievica or Klasyčny pravapis
(Classical orthography)
There exists an alternative literary norm of the Belarusian language, named
Taraškievica (Tarashkevica). The promoters and users of it
prevalently refer to it as Klasyčny pravapis (Classic orthography).
Computer
representation
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).
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