Rusyn language

Rusyn
русиньскый язык; руски язик
rusîn'skyj jazyk; ruski jazik
Ethnicity Rusyns
Native speakers

623,500 (2000–2006)[1]
Census population: 70,000. These are numbers from national official bureaus for statistics:
Slovakia – 33,482[2]
Serbia – 15,626[3]
Ukraine – 6,725[4]
Poland – 10,000[5]
Croatia – 2,337[6]
Hungary – 1,113[7]

Czech Republic – 777[8]
Cyrillic script (Rusyn alphabets)
Latin script (Slovakia)[9]
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3 rue
Glottolog rusy1239[13]
Linguasphere 53-AAA-ec < 53-AAA-e
(varieties: 53-AAA-eca to 53-AAA-ecc)

Rusyn (/ˈruːsɪn/;[14] Carpathian Rusyn: русиньскый язык (rusîn'skyj jazyk), русиньска бесїда (rusîn'ska bes'ida); Pannonian Rusyn: руски язик (ruski jazik), руска бешеда (ruska bešeda)),[15] also known in English as Ruthene (UK: /rʊˈθiːn/, US: /ruːˈθiːn/;[16] sometimes Ruthenian), is a 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[17] (with its own ISO 639-3 code), whereas other scholars (especially in Ukraine but also Poland, Serbia and Romania) treat it as a Southwestern dialect of Ukrainian.[18]

Geographical distribution

Pannonian Rusyn is spoken in Vojvodina in Serbia and part of Croatia.

Carpathian Rusyn is spoken in:

  • the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine
  • northeastern Slovakia
  • Poland (traditionally in the southeast, but now mainly scattered throughout the north and west[19]). The Rusyn variety of Poland is generally known as Lemko (лемківскій язык – lemkivskij jazyk),[20] after the characteristic word лем (lem) meaning "only", "but" and "like"
  • Hungary (where the people and language are called Ruszin in Hungarian)
  • northern Maramureș, Romania, where the people are called Ruteni and the language Ruteană in Romanian

Classification

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. Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand had planned to recognize them as one of the ten states of a planned United States of Greater Austria before his assassination. After the war, Austria-Hungary was partitioned, and Carpathian Ukraine was appended to the new Czechoslovak state as its easternmost province. With the advent of World War II, Carpathian Ukraine declared its independence, lasting one day, until its annexation by Hungary. After the war, the Ukrainian Carpathians of Czechoslovakia, occupied by Hungary, were 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 conquered from Germany, and immersed in Polish.

Official usage of Pannonian Rusyn in Vojvodina, Serbia.

Scholars with the former Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies in Moscow (now the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) formally re-acknowledged Rusyn as a separate language in 1992, and trained specialists to study the language.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23]

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

There are three Rusyn standard varieties: one in Slovakia, one in Poland, and one in Vojvodina and Croatia (Pannonian Rusyn). Pannonian Rusyn was first standardised in 1923, Slovakia (Prešov) Rusyn in 1995,[24] and Poland (Lemko) Rusyn in 2000.[25] Early grammars include Dmytrij Vyslockij's (Дмитрий Вислоцкий) Карпаторусский букварь (Karpatorusskij bukvar') Vanja Hunjanky (1931)[26] and Metodyj Trochanovskij's Буквар. Перша книжечка для народных школ. (Bukvar. Perša knyžečka dlja narodnıx škol.) (1935).[27][28]

The Carpathian Rusyn alphabets

Each of the three Rusyn standard varieties has its own Cyrillic alphabet. The table below shows the alphabet of Slovakia (Prešov) Rusyn. The alphabet of the other Carpathian Rusyn standard, Lemko (Poland) Rusyn, differs from it only by lacking ё and ї. For the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet, see Pannonian Rusyn language#Writing system.

Letters of the Carpathian Rusyn alphabets[29]
Capital Small Name Translit. Pronunciation Notes
Ааaa/a/
Бббэb/b/
Вввэv/v/
Гггэh/ɦ/
Ґґґэg/ɡ/
Дддэd/d/
Ееee/e/
Єєєje/'e/je/
Ёёёjo/'o/jo/not present in Lemko Rusyn or Pannonian Rusyn
Жжжыž/ʒ/
Зззыz/z/
Ііii/i/not present in Pannonian Rusyn
Їїїji/'i/ji/not present in Lemko Rusyn
Иииî/ɪ/the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet places this letter directly after з, like the Ukrainian alphabet
Ыыыy/ɨ/not present in Pannonian Rusyn
Йййыj/j/
Кккыk/k/
Лллыl/l/
Мммыm/m/
Ннныn/n/
Ооoo/o/
Пппыp/p/
Рррыr/r/
Сссыs/s/
Тттыt/t/
Уууu/u/
Фффыf/f/
Хххыch/x/
Цццыc/t͡s/
Чччыč/t͡ʃ/
Шшшыš/ʃ/
Щщщыšč/ʃt͡ʃ/
Юююju/'u/ju/
Яяяja/'a/ja/
Ььмягкый знак (ірь)'/ʲ/"Soft Sign": marks the preceding consonant as palatalized (soft)
Ъътвёрдый знак (ір)"Hard Sign": marks the preceding consonant as NOT palatalized (hard). Not present in Pannonian Rusyn

Until World War II, the letter Ѣ ѣ (їть) was used, and was pronounced /ji/ or /i/.

Number of letters and relationship to the Ukrainian alphabet

The Prešov Rusyn alphabet of Slovakia has 36 letters. It includes all the letters of the Ukrainian alphabet plus ё, ы, and ъ.

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, like the Ukrainian alphabet did until 1990. The vast majority of Cyrillic alphabets place ь before э (if present), 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 (if present), and ъ (if present).

In the Prešov Rusyn alphabet, і and ї come before и, and likewise, і comes before и in the Lemko Rusyn alphabet (which doesn't have ї). In the Ukrainian alphabet, however, и precedes і and ї, and the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet (which doesn't have і) follows this precedent by placing и before ї.

Newspapers

  • Karpatska Rus'
  • Русинська бесіда
  • Народны новинкы
  • Podkarpatská Rus – Подкарпатська Русь ("")
  • Amerikansky Russky Viestnik †
  • Lemko (Philadelphia, USA) †
  • Руснаци у Швеце – Rusnaci u Svece[30]
  • Руске слово - (Serbia, Ruski Kerestur)
  • Lem.fm - [31] (Poland, Gorlice)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rusyn at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. "Population and Housing Census 2011: Table 11. Resident population by nationality – 2011, 2001, 1991" (PDF). Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Republic of Serbia, Republic Statistical Office (24 December 2002). "Final results of the census 2002" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  4. ↑ State Statistics Committee of Ukraine. "About number and composition population of UKRAINE by data All-Ukrainian population census 2001 data". Archived from the original on 2 March 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  5. ↑ "Home" (PDF). Central Statistical Office of Poland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "Republic of Croatia – Central Bureau of Statistics". Crostat. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  7. ↑ "1.28 Population by mother tongue, nationality and sex, 1900–2001". Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 2001. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  8. ↑ "Obyvatelstvo podle věku, mateřského jazyka a pohlaví". Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Rusyn at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
  10. ↑ "Implementation of the Charter in Hungary". Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "The Statue of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia". Skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  12. ↑ "Law of Ukraine "On Principles of State Language Policy" (Current version — Revision from 1 February 2014)". Document 5029-17, Article 7: Regional or minority languages Ukraine, Paragraph 2. Zakon2.rada.gov.ua. 1 February 2014. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  13. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Rusyn". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  14. ↑ "Rusyn, n. and adj. : Oxford English Dictionary".
  15. ↑ http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2781/1/2011BaptieMPhil-1.pdf, p. 8.
  16. ↑ "Ruthene, n. and adj. : Oxford English Dictionary".
  17. ↑ Bernard Comrie, "Slavic Languages," International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (1992, Oxford, Vol 3), pp. 452–456.
    Ethnologue, 16th edition
  18. ↑ George Y. Shevelov, "Ukrainian," The Slavonic Languages, ed. Bernard Comrie and Greville G. Corbett (1993, Routledge), pp. 947–998.
  19. ↑ http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2781/1/2011BaptieMPhil-1.pdf, p. 9.
  20. ↑ http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2781/1/2011BaptieMPhil-1.pdf, p. 8.
  21. ↑ Іван Гвать. "Україна в лещатах російських спецслужб". Radiosvoboda.org. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  22. ↑ "Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina". Skupstinavojvodine.gov.rs. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  23. ↑ Slovenskej Republiky, Národná Rada (1999). "Zákon 184/1999 Z. z. o používaní jazykov národnostných menšín" (in Slovak). Zbierka zákonov. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  24. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  25. ↑ http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2781/1/2011BaptieMPhil-1.pdf, p. 52.
  26. ↑ Vyslockyj, Dmytryj (1931). Карпаторусский букварь [Karpatorusskij bukvar'] (in Rusyn). Cleveland.
  27. ↑ Trochanovskij, Metodyj (1935). Буквар. Перша книжечка для народных школ. [Bukvar. Perša knyžečka dlja narodnıx škol.] (in Rusyn). Lviv.
  28. ↑ Bogdan Horbal (2005). Custer, Richard D., ed. "The Rusyn Movement among the Galician Lemkos" (PDF). Rusyn-American Almanac of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society. Pittsburgh (10th Anniversary 2004-2005).
  29. ↑ http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2781/1/2011BaptieMPhil-1.pdf
  30. ↑ "Rusnaci u svece". tripod.lycos.com. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  31. ↑ "Хыжа | lem.fm - Радийо Руской Бурсы". lem.fm - Радийо Руской Бурсы. Retrieved 2018-06-03.

Further reading

  • Zatkovich, Gregory. The Rusin Question in a Nutshell. OCLC 22065508.
  • 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.
  • Aleksandr Dmitrievich Dulichenko. Jugoslavo-Ruthenica. Роботи з рускей филолоґиї. Нови Сад 1995.
  • Taras Kuzio, "The Rusyn question in Ukraine: sorting out fact from fiction", Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism, XXXII (2005)
  • Elaine Rusinko, "Rusinski/Ruski pisni" selected by Nataliya Dudash; "Muza spid Karpat (Zbornik poezii Rusiniv na Sloven'sku)" assembled by Anna Plishkova. Books review. "The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 42, No. 2. (Summer, 1998), pp. 348-350. JSTOR archive
  • Плішкова, Анна [Anna Plishkova] (ed.): Муза спід Карпат (Зборник поезії Русинів на Словеньску). [Muza spid Karpat (Zbornik poezii Rusiniv na Sloven'sku)] Пряшів: Русиньска оброда, 1996. on-line
  • Геровский Г.Ю. Язык Подкарпатской Руси – Москва, 1995
  • Marta Harasowska. "Morphophonemic Variability, Productivity, and Change: The Case of Rusyn", Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1999, ISBN 3-11-015761-6.
    • Book review by Edward J. Vajda, Language, Vol. 76, No. 3. (Sep., 2000), pp. 728–729
  • I. I. Pop, Paul Robert Magocsi, Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture, University of Toronto Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8020-3566-3
  • Plišková, Anna: Rusínsky jazyk na Slovensku: náčrt vývoja a súčasné problémy. Prešov : Metodicko-pedagogické centrum, 2007, 116 s. Slovak Rusyn

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.