Rusyn language
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Rusyn is an East Slavic language (along with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian) close to Ukrainian. There is controversy among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian [link].
It is spoken in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine, in eastern Slovakia, southern Poland (where it is often called łemkowski 'Lemko', from their characteristic word lem/лєм 'only'), and Hungary. The Pannonian Rusyn language in Serbia is sometimes considered part of the Rusyn language, although some linguists consider that language to be West Slavic. In Ukraine, Rusyn is often considered a dialect of Ukrainian, as it is very close to the Hutsul dialect of Ukrainian, but speakers sometimes prefer to consider themselves distinct from Ukrainians.
Attempts to standardize the language suffer from its being divided between four countries, so that in each of these countries there has been devised a separate orthography (in each case with Cyrillic letters) and grammatical standard, based on different Rusyn dialects. The cultural centres of Carpatho-Rusyn are Prešov in Slovakia, Uzhhorod and Mukacheve in Ukraine, Krynica and Legnica in Poland, and Budapest in Hungary. Many very active Rusyns also live in Canada and the USA.
It is very difficult to count the speakers of Rusyn, but their number is sometimes estimated at almost a million, most of them in Ukraine and Slovakia. The first country to officially recognize Rusyn, more exactly Pannonian Rusyn, as an official language was former Yugoslavia. In 1995, Rusyn was recognized as a minority language in Slovakia, enjoying the status of official language in municipalities where more than 20% of the inhabitants speak Rusyn.
In the introduction to the book "Slavic languages," written in 1973, ten years before glasnost, Samuel Bernshtein writes about "western Ukrainians" and the "literary language" which they "until recently [i.e., 1973]" had.
Alphabet
Lemko Rusyn Cyrillic alphabet
| Grapheme | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| А | ||
| Б | ||
| В | ||
| Г | ||
| Ґ | ||
| Д | ||
| Е | ||
| Є | ||
| Ё | not present in Vojvodinian | |
| Ж | ||
| З | ||
| И | ||
| І | not present in Vojvodinian | |
| Ы | not present in Vojvodinian | |
| Ї | ||
| Й | ||
| К | ||
| Л | ||
| М | ||
| Н | ||
| О | ||
| П | ||
| Р | ||
| С | ||
| Т | ||
| У | ||
| Ф | ||
| Х | ||
| Ц | ||
| Ч | ||
| Ш | ||
| Щ | ||
| Used before WWII | ||
| Ю | ||
| Я | ||
| Ь | marks preceding consonant's palatalization | |
| Ъ | not present in Vojvodinian |
See also
Literature
A new Slavic language is born. The Rusyn literary language in Slovakia. Ed. Paul Robert Magocsi. New York 1996.Magocsi, Paul Robert. Let's speak Rusyn. Бісідуйме по-руськы. Englewood 1976.
Дуличенко, Александр Дмитриевич. Jugoslavo-Ruthenica. Роботи з рускей филолоґиї. Нови Сад 1995.
External links
- [Rusyn language at the World Academy of Rusyn Culture]
- [Ethnologue report for RUE]
- [Руска Матка (Ruska Matka), the central cultural organization of the Pannonian Rusyns]
- [Transliterating Rusyn into the Latin alphabet]
| Slavic languages | |||
| East Slavic | Belarusian | Old East Slavic † | Russian | Rusyn (Carpathians) | Ruthenian † | Ukrainian | ||
| West Slavic | Czech | Kashubian | Knaanic † | Lower Sorbian | Polabian † | Polish | Pomeranian † | Slovak | Slovincian † | Upper Sorbian | ||
| South Slavic | Banat Bulgarian | Bosnian | Bulgarian | Burgenland Croatian | Croatian | Macedonian | Molise Croatian | Montenegrin | Old Church Slavonic † | Serbian | Serbo-Croatian | Slavic (Greece) | Slovenian | ||
| Other | Church Slavonic | Old Novgorod dialect † | Proto-Slavic † | Russenorsk † | Rusyn (Pannonia) | Slavonic-Serbian † | Slovio | ||
| † Language death>Extinct | |||
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