Rusyn language

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Rusyn
русин rusin
Spoken in: Image:Flag of Ukraine.svg Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukraine)
Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg eastern Slovakia
Image:Flag of Poland.svg southern Poland
Image:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary
Image:Flag of Romania.svg northern Romania
Image:Flag of Serbia.svg Vojvodina (Serbia)
Total speakers: Estimated: At least 600,000.[1]

Census population: 60,000.[2]

Language family: Indo-European
 Slavic
  East Slavic
   Rusyn 
Official status
Official language in: Image:Flag of Serbia.svg Vojvodina (Serbia)
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: ry
ISO 639-2: sla
ISO 639-3: rue

Rusyn (русин rusin) is an East Slavic language (along with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian to which it shares a common linguistic ancestry) that is spoken by the Rusyns. Opinions differ among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian.[3] The political implications of the dispute add to the controversy.

Rusyn is spoken in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine, in northeastern Slovakia, southeastern Poland (where it is often called łemkowski 'Lemko', from their characteristic word lem/лєм 'only'), and Hungary (where the people and language are called Ruten). The Pannonian Rusyn language in Serbia is sometimes considered part of the Rusyn language group, although some linguists consider that language to be West Slavic. In Ukraine, Rusyn is usually considered a dialect of Ukrainian, as it is very close to the Hutsul dialect, but some speakers sometimes prefer to consider themselves distinct from Ukrainians.

Attempts to standardize the language suffer from its being divided among 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[citation needed], 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,[dubious] 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.

Contents

[edit] Alphabet

Letters and symbols of the Carpatho-Rusyn alphabet
Capital Small Name Translit. Pronunciation Notes
А а a a /a/
Б б бы b /b/
В в вы v /v/
Г г гы h /ɦ/
Ґ ґ ґы g /g/
Д д ды d /d/
Е е e e /je/
Є є є je /je/
Ё ё ё jo /ʏ/ not present in Pannonian Rusyn
Ж ж жы ž /ʒ/
З з зы z /z/
И и и y /ɪ/
І і i i /i/ not present in Pannonian Rusyn
Ы ы ы y /ɨ/ not present in Pannonian Rusyn
Ї ї ї ji /ji/
Й й йы j /j/
К к кы k /k/
Л л лы l /l/
М м мы m /m/
Н н ны n /n/
О о o o /o/
П п пы p /p/
Р р ры r /r/
С с сы s /s/
Т т ты t /t/
У у у u /u/
Ф ф фы f /f/
Х х хы x, ch /x/
Ц ц цы c /ts/
Ч ч чы č /ʧ/
Ш ш шы š /ʃ/
Щ щ щы šč /ʃʧ/
Ѣ ѣ /ji/,/i/ Used before World War II
Ю ю ju /ju/
Я я ja /ja/
Ь ь /ʲ/ marks preceding consonant's palatalization
Ъ ъ not present in Pannonian Rusyn

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ (2005) "Ethnologue report for language code:rue (Rusyn)", in Raymond G. Gordon, Jr.: Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 15th edition (in English), Dallas, TX: SIL International, 1272. ISBN 13 978-1-55671-159-6. Retrieved on 2007-04-27. 
  2. ^ These are numbers from national official bureaus for statistics:
  3. ^ http://lists.microlink.lv/pipermail/minelres/2000-January/000398.html

[edit] Further reading

  • 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.
  • 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 Nataliia 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
  • Marta Harasowska. "Morphophonemic Variability, Productivity, and Change: The Case of Rusyn", Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1999, ISBN 3110157616.
    • 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 0802035663

[edit] External links


af:Rusyn

be-x-old:Русінская мова bg:Русински език ca:Rutè cs:Rusínština de:Karpato-russinische Sprache et:Russiini keel eo:Rutena lingvo fr:Rusyn hsb:Rusinšćina id:Bahasa Rusyn it:Lingua rutena lij:Lengua rutenn-a li:Rusyn hu:Ruszin nyelv nl:Roetheens no:Rusinsk pl:Język rusiński ru:Русинский язык sk:Rusínčina sl:Rusinščina cu:Карпатьско-рѹсьскъ ѩзыкъ fi:Ruteeni sv:Rusinska uk:Русинська мова bat-smg:Rosėnu kalba zh:卢森尼亚语

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