Rusyn language


Rusyn, русиньска бесїда ; Pannonian Rusyn: руски язик, руска бешеда ), also known in English as Ruthene, is an East Slavic language spoken by the Rusyns of Eastern Europe.
There are several controversial theories about the nature of Rusyn as a language or dialect. Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian, as well as American and some Polish and Serbian linguists treat it as a distinct language, whereas other scholars treat it as a Southwestern dialect of Ukrainian.

Geographical distribution

Pannonian Rusyn is spoken in Vojvodina in Serbia and part of Croatia.
Carpathian Rusyn is spoken in:
The classification and identification of Rusyn is historically and politically problematic. Before World War I, Rusyns were recognized as the Ukrainians of Galicia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire; however, in the Hungarian part they were recognized as Rusyns/Ruthenes. Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand had planned to recognize a Rusyn-majority area as one of the states of a planned United States of Greater Austria before his assassination. After the war, the former Austria and Hungary was partitioned, and Carpathian Ruthenia was appended to the new Czechoslovak state as its easternmost province. With the advent of World War II, Carpatho-Ukraine declared its independence, lasting not even one day, until its occupation and annexation by Hungary. After the war, the region was annexed by the Soviet Union as part of the Ukrainian SSR, which proceeded with an anti-ethnic assimilation program. Poland did the same, using internal exile to move all Ukrainians from the southern homelands to western areas incorporated from Germany, and switch everyday language to Polish.
in Vojvodina, Serbia.
Scholars with the former Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies in Moscow formally re-acknowledged Rusyn as a separate language in 1992, and trained specialists to study the language. These studies were financially supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Ukrainian politicians do not recognise Rusyns as a separate ethnicity, regardless of Rusyn self-identification. Ukraine officially considers Rusyn a dialect of Ukrainian, related to the Hutsul dialect of Ukrainian.
It is not possible to estimate accurately the number of fluent speakers of Rusyn; however, their number is estimated in the tens of thousands.
Serbia has recognized Rusyn, more precisely Pannonian Rusyn, as an official minority language. Since 1995, Rusyn has been recognized as a minority language in Slovakia, enjoying the status of an official language in municipalities where more than 20 percent of the inhabitants speak Rusyn.
Rusyn is listed as a protected language by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia and Romania.

Grammars and codification

Early grammars include Dmytrij Vyslockij's Карпаторусский букварь Vanja Hunjanky, Metodyj Trochanovskij's Буквар. Перша книжечка для народных школ. ., and Ivan Harajda. The archaic Harajda's grammar is currently promoted in the Rusyn Wikipedia, although part of the articles are written using other standards.
Currently, there are three codified varieties of Rusyn:
Apart from these codified varieties, there are publications using a mixture of these standards, as well as attempts to revitalize the pre-war etymological orthography with old Cyrillic letters ; the latter can be observed in multiple edits in the Rusyn Wikipedia, where various articles represent various codified varieties.

Phonology

Consonants

The sound only exists within alteration of . However, in the Lemko variety, the sound also represents the non-palatalized L, as is the case with the Polish ł.
A soft consonant combination sound exists more among the northern and western dialects. In the eastern dialects the sound is recognized as , including the area on which the standard dialect is based. It is noted that a combination sound like this one, could have evolved into a soft fricative sound .

Vowels

The Carpathian Rusyn alphabets

Each of the three Rusyn standard varieties has its own Cyrillic alphabet. The table below shows the alphabet of Slovakia Rusyn. The alphabet of the other Carpathian Rusyn standard, Lemko Rusyn, differs from it only by lacking ё and ї. While the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet differs noticeably.
CapitalSmallNameTranslit.PronunciationNotes
Ааaa
Бббэb
Вввэv
Гггэh
Ґґґэg
Дддэd
Ееee
Єєєje/'e
Ёёёjo/'onot present in Lemko Rusyn or Pannonian Rusyn
Жжжыž
Зззыz
Ііiinot present in Pannonian Rusyn
Їїїji/'inot present in Lemko Rusyn
Иииîthe Pannonian Rusyn alphabet places this letter directly after з, like the Ukrainian alphabet
Ыыыynot present in Pannonian Rusyn
Йййыj
Кккыk
Лллыl
Мммыm
Ннныn
Ооoo
О̄о̄o макронōDoes not appear in Pannonian Rusyn or Lemko Rusyn.
Пппыp
Рррыr
Сссыs
Тттыt
Уууu
Ӯӯу макронyDoes not appear in Pannonian Rusyn or Lemko Rusyn.
Фффыf
Хххыch
Цццыc
Чччыč
Шшшыš
Щщщыšč
Юююju/'u
Яяяja/'a
Ььмнягкый знак '"Soft Sign": marks the preceding consonant as palatalized
Ъътвердый знак ""Hard Sign": marks the preceding consonant as NOT palatalized. Not present in Pannonian Rusyn

Until World War II, the letter Ѣ ѣ was used, and was pronounced or. This letter is still used in part of the articles in the Rusyn Wikipedia.

Number of letters and relationship to the Ukrainian alphabet

The Prešov Rusyn alphabet of Slovakia and Zakarpattia has 36 letters. It includes all the letters of the Ukrainian alphabet plus ё, ы, and ъ. In some regions, it could also include о̄ and ӯ.
The Lemko Rusyn alphabet of Poland has 34 letters. It includes all the Ukrainian letters with the exception of ї, plus ы and ъ.
The Pannonian Rusyn alphabet has 32 letters, namely all the Ukrainian letters except і.

Alphabetical order

The Rusyn alphabets all place ь after я, as the Ukrainian alphabet did until 1990. The vast majority of Cyrillic alphabets place ь before э, ю, and я.
The Lemko and Prešov Rusyn alphabets place ъ at the very end, while the vast majority of Cyrillic alphabets place it after щ. They also place ы before й, while the vast majority of Cyrillic alphabets place it after ш, щ, and ъ.
In the Prešov Rusyn alphabet, і and ї come before и, and likewise, і comes before и in the Lemko Rusyn alphabet. In the Ukrainian alphabet, however, и precedes і and ї, and the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet follows this precedent by placing и before ї.

Newspapers