Russian language in Belarus

Start

The literary form of the Belarusian language developed only at the beginning of the 20th century, in intense competition with Russian, Polish and under their strong influence ^[1] mainly on the basis of publications by Belarusian writers and correspondents of the newspaper Nasha Niva ( Belarusian. Nasha Niva ).

After the October Revolution of 1917 to 1930

After the October Revolution, in pursuance of the party’s policy on the development of national republics, the first Belarusianization began to take place (in this case, the introduction of language into state and public life). It should be noted that the Belarusian-speaking population was predominantly rural, while Yiddish and Russian were used in cities. Belarusianization in the 1920-1930s was carried out mainly by command-administrative methods ^[2] . At the same time, a number of initiatives are known for expanding the sphere of application of the Belarusian language and developing Belarusian culture on the ground ^[3] .

The documents preserved evidence of ambiguous attitude on the part of the population regarding the first Belarusianization of Belarus ^[4] , although the main opposition to Belarusization was made up of representatives of the state apparatus and party workers who maintained the old ideas about Belarusian culture ^[3] .

1930-1940

In the 30s, the process of Belarusization was curtailed, during the years of mass repressions (1937-1938), many Belarusian scientists and intelligentsia were repressed by accusations of espionage activities (and participation in the so-called “National Democratic Party”) and preparations for creating bourgeois Belarusian state. The Soviet politicized linguistic theory of the upcoming union of the languages ​​of the Union republics based on the Russian language into one "Soviet language" came into effect. Opponents of this approach were subjected to obstruction or repression on charges of "fascist Belarusian nationalism."

With the outbreak of war, the German occupation administration introduced the official languages ​​German, Polish and Belarusian. The Russian language has been supplanted from the official sphere ^[5] .

1950-1990

With the restoration of Soviet power on the territory of Belarus, the Russian language returns to the wide official sphere throughout Belarus. In the postwar years, the further displacement of the Belarusian language from the press began. State publishers of the BSSR gave priority to popular mass Russian-language publications as opposed to the Belarusian-language press. In particular, by the 70-80s of the 20th century, the Belarusian publishing house “Fiction” was printing 100-300 thousand copies of the popular adventure and fiction books in Russian (“Three Musketeers” by Dumas, etc.). Translations of classical European literature into the Belarusian language were rarely performed. The leadership of the BSSR (in particular, P.M. Masherov) spoke only in Russian. Many military and industrial specialists from all over the USSR, called up for military service and for work in the industry of the BSSR, were also Russian-speaking, which also contributed to the expansion of the use of the Russian language in Belarus.

1990-1995

On January 26, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Byelorussian SSR declared the Belarusian language the only state language, the Russian language received the status of "language of international communication." Also in 1990, the “State Program for the Development of the Belarusian Language and Other National Languages ​​in the Belorussian SSR” was adopted, which actually implied the displacement of the Russian language from all areas of the functioning of the Belarusian society by the year 2000 ^[6]

The Belarusianization that began after this ^{[7] [8]} caused some tension in society. The mass translation of educational institutions into the Belarusian language of instruction has begun. By mid- 1994, 87% of Russian speakers Belarusians in the republic left only 4.9% of Russian schools, 30.5% were schools in which the instruction was in two languages, and 64.6% of schools were purely Belarusian ^[9] . A number of parties ( SSBR , DDP ) supported the state status of the Russian language ^[8] . Surveys of the population also showed that the vast majority of the population wanted the Russian language to have the status of the state ^{[7] [10] [11]} . But then, thanks to the parliamentary opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front party and the position of the Chairman of the Supreme Council S. Shushkevich, it was possible to avoid submitting to the referendum the issue of one or two official languages ​​in Belarus. ^[7]

In accordance with the report of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Russian Language in the World” (2003):

In Belarus, out of almost 10 million people, only 15% of the population consider themselves ethnic Russians. However, more than 80% of the country's citizens in almost all spheres of life use the Russian language.

... more than 75% of students study in Russian-language schools.

... In secondary specialized educational institutions, vocational schools and state universities of the republic, teaching in Russian is about 90%. In 12 private Belarusian universities, where more than 40 thousand people were educated in the 2002-2003 academic year, the volume of instruction in Russian is almost 99%.

... Russian is the language of most of the media in Belarus. Only in Russian in Belarus 415 out of 1100 registered print publications are published. Most of the remaining publications are bilingual. Moreover, the most popular newspapers and magazines are printed in Russian ^[12] .

For the deprivation of the Russian language as a state language , the BPF party is in favor ^[13] .

Distribution

According to the 1999 census, 24.1% of the citizens of Belarus consider Russian as their native language, and according to the 2009 census, 41.5% of the citizens already consider it to be Russian (while 53.2% of Belarusians named their native language). At the same time, the Russian language is considered native: ^[14]

• 90.7% of Russians (in 2009 - 96.3%),
• 42.8% of Ukrainians (in 2009 - 61.2%),
• 16.2% of Poles (in 2009 - 33.9%),
• 14.3% of Belarusians (in 2009 - 37.0%).

The census provided an opportunity to distinguish between the concepts of “native language” and “language that a person speaks at home”. According to her data, 62.8% of the population speak Russian at home (according to the 2009 census, 70.2%). At the same time, they speak Russian at home: ^[14]

• 95.7% of Russians (in 2009 - 96.5%),
• 83.6% of Ukrainians (in 2009 - 88.4%),
• 58.6% of Belarusians (in 2009 - 69.8%),
• 37.7% of Poles (in 2009 - 50.9%).

In cities, according to the 2009 census, 81.9% of the population speak Russian, in rural areas - 36.1% (while 49.8% consider them native in cities, 17.7% in rural areas). However, it is noted that the real picture of the spread of the Russian language is different, since many who use tansyka called it the Belarusian language during the census. In addition, a large number of people who actually use the Russian language in the census called Belarusian out of a sense of national pride ^[15] , especially since many cultural figures called for answering the question about their native and home language “Belarusian” ^[16] .

According to the 2009 national survey ^[17] , for the majority of the population of Belarus (72%), the main language used in everyday life is Russian. Answering the question “Which language is closer to you, dearer, regardless of the degree of knowledge of it?”, 69.5% of respondents named Russian.

Belorussian accent

The concept of “Belarusian accent” combines the main interference phenomena characteristic of the Russian language of Belarusians (to a lesser extent the Russian population of Belarus). These include:

• phonetic : fricative [γ] (γara), replacing sound [g] with sound [x] at the end of words (pyroch, smokh); less reduction of unstressed vowels (help instead of pumŒgat, јfirst instead of јpopонец (yakane)); solid [h] [read], use of [sch] instead of [sch] (schuka); dzekanie (dzyadzka); wrong accents (four). To a lesser extent there are double soft consonants (Varenna, voting); hard [p] instead of soft (trot); labial [ў] instead of [в] and [л] (byў, truck); hard labial at the end of words (sem, step) ^[18] , ^[19] , ^[20] .

• morphological : according to G.F. Veshtort's research to them belong the wrong choice of a gender of nouns (the dog ate; a bloody corn); misuse of the number of nouns (we collected raspberries; words are highlighted in red ink); erroneous inflections in declension (without shoulder straps; we are with dad; by the window; in green); forms without -t # or with -t # in the 3rd person of verbs in the present tense (breathe, draw; take, look); the use of a shortened version of the suffix of an imperfect form (sneak up, steal) ^[21] .

• lexical : use of Belarusian words: zavea (Russian blizzard), bulb (Russian potato), tsybul (Russian onion), nameplate (billboard or sign) ^[22] ., drawer (Russian drawer).

Education and science

In Belarus, there remains a high demand for the Russian language as one of the main carriers of world culture, art, and information. In Russian, most of the educational and methodical literature and scientific literature in technical areas are published. International conferences are held annually on topical issues of the Russian language. The XI World Congress of Russian Studies, organized by the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature in September 2007, was attended by 26 scientists from leading universities in Belarus ^[23] .

In the 2006-2007 school year, about 80% of school students studied in Russian-language schools and classes ^[24] . In 2006, in Russian-language schools, the subjects “History of Belarus” and “Geography of Belarus”, previously taught in the Belarusian language ^[25] , were translated into Russian. In the 2008/2009 academic year, 84% of students in universities and more than 90% of universities studied in Russian. ^[26] One of the subjects in which testing is conducted for admission to the university for non-philological specialties is the choice of Russian or Belarusian ^[27] .

Training of specialists in the specialty "Russian Philology" is carried out in 8 universities of Belarus: two universities in Gomel and Minsk regions and one university in the rest.

In Belarusian science, the Russian language prevails. By the end of the 1990s, among science workers, 13% used the Belarusian language when communicating, 33% used both languages, the remaining 54% used only the Russian language ^[7] .

Culture

Of the 18 theaters in Belarus, 14 are Russian-speaking. The Russian language also prevails in the Belarusian media (especially on television), book publishing, clerical work, the work of public authorities, the liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church and Protestant organizations. The Catholic Church uses mainly Polish and Belarusian languages.

Tentatively, according to the results of 2011-2014, the proportion of books published in Russian makes up 89% of the total number of published (for comparison: the share of books published in Belarusian is up to 10-11%) ^[28] . A large number of writers and poets of Belarus wrote and write in Russian ( Svetlana Aleksievich , Anatoly Avrutin , Vyacheslav Bondarenko , Veniamin Blessed , Oleg Borodach, V. Golkov, Valery Grishkovets , Oleg Zaitsev , A. Karelin, Alexander Ratkevich, Eduard Skobelev , Dmitry Strocev , E. Taganov, A. Shchutsky and more than a hundred others) ^[29] . In 2003, an anthology of Russian poetry of Belarus was published, which included works by 222 poets ^{[30] [31]} . In 2010, the literary Anthology “Belarusian Literary Union“ Polotsk Branch ”: 1994-2009” was published, which contains biographies, bibliographies and works of 104 mostly Russian-speaking poets, prose writers, literary critics and translators ^[32] . Festivals of Russian poetry and other events are held ^[33] .

Competition with the Belarusian language

After giving the Russian language the status of the state language, he began to oust the Belarusian language from all spheres of public life in Belarus, from education and the media to use in official document management. A significant array of (at a reasonable retail cost) fiction, scientific, technical and popular literature is published in Russian, which makes it a stronger competitor to the Belarusian language (Belarusian-language publications - fiction and scientific literature - are published in circulation of 300-1200 copies, which makes it more expensive and less affordable). The share of books published in Belarusian according to the results of 2011-2014 is up to 10-11% of the total number of published ^[34] . As a result, the Belarusian language, according to UNESCO classification, is a “vulnerable language” ^[35] . Many opposition politicians talk about Russification. One case of punishment for refusing at the request of the applicant to give an official response in Belarusian is known - in 2013 the director of a utility company in Minsk was fined for it ^[36] .

• Kalita I.V. Modern Belarus: languages ​​and national identity. Ústí nad Labem, ISBN 978-80-7414-324-3, 2010, 300 s.
• Koryakov Yu. B. Typology of language situations and the language situation in Belarus: Thesis for the degree of candidate. filol. of sciences