Vincuk Viačorka


Valancin Ryhoravič "Vincuk" Viačorka is a Belarusian linguist, politician and former leader of the Belarusian National Front, a Belarusian opposition party.

Early life and education

Vincuk Viačorka was born on July 7, 1961 in Brest.
He graduated from the Faculty of Philology at the Belarusian State University and the Institute of Linguistics at the Belarusian Academy of Sciences.

Professional and political career

Vincuk Viačorka worked as a professor at the Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University and the Belarusian Humanities Lyceum, as a journalist and the deputy chief redactor of the cultural magazine Spadčyna.
From 1979 on, Viačorka has been an active member of the national-democratic movement in Belarus. He was one of the founders of several juvenile cultural groups and organisations, such as Majstroŭnia, Tałaka, and the Confederation of Belarusian Juvenile Organisations.
Vincuk Viačorka ran for a seat in the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, but was not successful.
In 1988, he was one of the founders of the Belarusian National Front. Viačorka was head of programme documents commission and a member of the party's central board. In 1995-1999 he was deputy head of the BNF.
Vincuk Viačorka is the founder and head of an educational non-governmental organization, the Supolnaść Centre and was head of the working group of the NGO Assembly of Belarus.

Personal life and family

Vincuk Viačorka speaks several European languages, is married, has two daughters and a son. His wife Aryna is a mathematician. His son Franak is a youth activist for the BNF, and is a former student of the Belarusian Humanities Lyceum. Both Vincuk and his son were featured in the 2006 documentary film by Mirosław Dembiński, A Lesson of Belarusian.

Publications

In 2016 Vincuk Viačorka publishes the book “In Belarusian With Vincuk Viačorka”. This is a series of essays based on the eponymous Radio Liberty internet page program. Viačorka encourages his audiences to dissect the rules and principles of authentic Belarusian, a tongue which suffered serious distortion in the wake of Communist mandates on “language merger.” Vocabulary and onomastics, grammar and pronunciation, spelling and syntax are all covered in concise, easy to read lessons. Viačorka gives long overdue attention to a distinct and vibrant language which is an indivisible component of the modern European linguo-cultural space.