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Belarusian grammar

Encyclopedia : B : BE : BEL : Belarusian grammar

The normative Belarusian grammar had been adopted in 1959. It represents the prevailingly synthetic (flexive) and partly analytic nature of the Belarusian language. The B.g. is centered around the principle of the phonetical writing («you write down what you hear») and is mainly based on the Belarusian folk dialects of the Myensk-Vil'nya region of the beginning of the 20th century. The B.g. had been prepared, in its initial form, by notable Belarusian linguist Branislaw Tarashkyevich and first printed in Vilnya (1918). Historically, there had existed several other alternative Belarusian grammars. See also Belarusian grammar#History.

Contents

Features

Phonetics

The most prominent phonetic features of Belarusian are
Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.

Some Belarusian sounds in IPA

Łacinka letter Cyrillic letter IPA IPA definition English approximation Example in Belarusian
c ц voiceless alveolar affricate pizza cehła (цэгла) – brick
ć ць voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate what's your ćvik (цьвік) – nail
č ч voiceless postalveolar affricate kitchen čas (час) – time
dź дзь voiced alveolo-palatal affricate would you dźmuć (дзьмуць) – to blow
dž дж voiced postalveolar affricate jam uradžaj (ураджай) – harvest
h г voiced glottal fricative hockey huś (гусь) – goose
ń нь palatal nasal el Niño koń (конь) – horse
r р [r] alveolar trill rolled (vibrating) r as in arriba krok (крок) – step
ś сь voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative between see and sheer śnieh (сьнег) – snow
š ш voiceless postalveolar fricative sheer špalery (шпалеры) – wallpaper
ŭ ў labial-velar approximant (semivowel) window daŭ (даў) – gave
y ы close central unrounded vowel tick akacyja (акацыя) – acacia
ź зь voiced alveolo-palatal fricative where's your źmiena (зьмена) – change
ž ж voiced postalveolar fricative treasure žach (жах) - horror

History

In the Medieval period, the Old Belarusian language had seen several grammars, notably none of them enjoying the definitely authoritative status.

In the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, the re-emerging Belarusian language had had no normative grammar, authors had been writing as one would see fit.

In 1846, ethnographer Shpilevskiy prepared the Belarusian grammar on the basis of the folk dialects of the Minsk region. Russian Academy of Sciences did not accept his submission for the printing on basis of it being prepared unscientifically.

Finally, the groundwork for the introduction of truely scientific and modern grammar of the Belarusian language was laid down by famous linguist Ye. F. Karskiy.

By the beginning of the 1910s, the continuing lack of the codification of the Belarusian language grammar had become intolerable. The board of the Belarusian newspaper "Nasha Niva" had reached understanding with Russian academician Shakhmatov, head of the Russian language and literature chair of the St. Petersburg University, that a Belarusian linguist would be trained under his supervision. Initially, famous Belarusian poet Maksim Bahdanovich was to be entrusted with this work. However, poor health of Bahdanovich (tuberculosis) wouldn't let him to live in the climate of St. Petersburg. So, Branislaw Tarashkyevich, the fresh graduate of the 2nd Vilnya Liceum, had been selected for the task. In the Belarusian community, there were great interest and big expectations vested in this enterprise. E.g., 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 preparing of the grammar during 1912–1917, with help and supervision of academicians Shakhmatov and Karski. Tarashkyevich had completed the work by the Fall 1917, even having to go from tumultous Petrograd of 1917 to relatively calm Finland to be able to complete it uninterrupted.

By Summer 1918, it had become obvious, that there are insurmissible problems with printing of the Tarashkyevich's grammar in Petrograd — paper, type and qualified personnel lacking. Meanwhile, the grammar of Tarashkyevich had been, apparently, tagged for the adoption in the coming Belarusian «workers and peasants schooling». So, Tarashkyevich had been permitted to print his book abroad. In June 1918, Tarashkyevich had arrived in Vilnya, via Finland. The Belarusian Committee petitioned to the administration to allow the book to be printed. Finally, the 1st edition of the «Belarusian grammar for schools» had been printed (Vilnya, 1918).

In 1917–1918, there had existed at least two other Belarusian grammars. In 1915, rev. Balyaslaw Pachopka had prepared the Belarusian grammar using the Latin script. Belarusian linguist S. M. Nyekrashevich considered B. Pachopka's grammar unscientifical and not relating to the principles of the Belarusian language. In 1918, during the unspecified period, the B. Pachopka's grammar was reportedly taught in unidentified number of schools. Another was, supposedly, the grammar jointly prepared by A. Lutskyevich and Ya. Stankyevich.

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Note: proper names and places’ names are rendered in BGN/PCGN

References

 

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