The Belarusian Language Today
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The Belarusian Language Today |
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The regime ruling Belarus is very clear in its language policy, and Russian is without a doubt the predominant language, particularly for the government (including in the courtrooms), commerce, and for publications, including newspapers. More and more official proceedings take place only in Russian.
According to the 1999 census, about 38 percent of Belarusian residents speak in Belarusian in their every day lives, and 82 percent consider Belarusian their mother tongue. As mentioned elsewhere in this section, it is an overtly political, authoritarian decision by the current regime ruling Belarus to replace Belarusian with Russian (continuing the ignoble tradition begun in the Russian tsarist and Soviet Russian eras).
The fact that the Belarusian constitution guarantees that both Belarusian and Russian are the official languages of Belarus, does not seem to be relevant for the current Belarusian government. (They ignore the constitution as often as they follow it.)
As far as the Belarusian government is concerned, the use of the Belarusian language is a political statement in today's (post-1995) Belarus--no matter if someone prefers to use Belarusian because it happens to be the language the person grew up using. To the government, the speaker (or writer) is a member of the opposition and thus a potential criminal willing to do anything to topple the government. "Smart" Belarusians who do not want trouble with the authorities only speak Russian, and especially so in public. The following are representative reports (it is very likely that most such events are never reported):
- October 24, 2007: "Today the “house of representatives” has adopted the law “On rules of Belarusian orthography and punctuation” in the first reading. Minister of education Aliaksandr Radzkou, speaking Belarusian, explained the “deputies” that the law is necessary first of all to avoid the now existing “jumble”, to clarify the problem of Belarusian language. Radzkou ended his speech in such a way: “This law will become an efficient means of stop the practice of unconsidered and as such unlawful using of so called Tarashkevitsa in the press”, - Radio Svaboda reported. [Note: "Tarashkevitsa" is traditional Belarusian that is a continuation of historical Belarusian. "Narkomovka," the form of Belarusian approved by the regime ruling Belarus is a Russified, Soviet version of Belarusian, instituted in part to weaken and destroy Belarusian identity. ] Uladzimir Zdanovich, head of the parliamentary education commission explained to his colleagues why it is reasonable to pass a law, not a government decree: “A law provides punishment for the violation of the language rules. And without punishment nothing will change. It is not policy, it is legal responsibility.” The direct changes in spelling will be discussed during the second reading. It is interesting, for example that the commission offers to write with a capital not only a word “president”, but also “prime minister” and “minister”. The independent [language] experts are against the amendments. “Settling the new redaction by laws, we are running the risk, because it is crude and premature today. It is not the revival of tarashkevitsa that became that “Genie” impeding the further development of the language. The problem is that the normalized in 1930-th spelling is not perfect, and these shortcomings are leaking in new spelling, which they want to fix by law”, - said Vintsuk Viachorka, linguist, the BPF Party (Belarusian Popular Front) leader." Charter 97
- October 12, 2007: "Alyaksandr Lukashenka revealed to a group of Russian provincial reporters on October 12 that it was by his order that Belarusian literary classics had been excluded from general education schools' course. "On my initiative, all nationalists, so-called writers, were removed from the school course," the Belarusian leader said. "Nationalism is a terrible evil. We started fighting against it long ago. Tolstoi, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Lermontov and many others were thrown out of courses and we've restored all this." "When nationalists were in power, they spoke about nothing but culture and the Belarusian language," Mr. Lukashenka claimed. "How can we give up the Russian language if the Belarusian language lacks many terms in sciences?" he said. "Why should we invent anything? Russian has become a state language." By a classified directive issued this past spring, the education ministry reduced the study of Belarusian literary greats such as Yanka Kupala and Vasil Bykaw while works by Svyatlana Aleksiyevich, Syarhey Zakonnikaw, Volha Ipatava, Uladzimir Arlow, Mikhas Skobla, Vitawt Charopka and others were completely deleted from schools' recommended reading list. In particular, the ministry censored Vasil Bykaw's Ablava and Yanka Kupala's Tuteyshyya. The latter is a tragicomedy written in 1922 about a period right after the 1917 Bolshevik coup, which saw the control of Belarus go from the Bolsheviks to the Germans, then to the Poles and then back to the Bolsheviks. Mikita Znosak, Tuteyshyya's central character, is satirized for his chameleon-like nature and attempts to ingratiate himself with every new occupying regime. Many of the works removed from the course deal with Communist terror. Russian literary greats, such as Aleksandr Pushkin, Lev Tolstoi, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mikhail Lermontov, were never removed from school courses in Belarus." Naviny.by (BelaPAN)
- October 6, 2006: "Belarusian Officials Do Not Understand Belarusian? Today in the court of Maskouski district of Brest a complaint of a public activist Andrei Sharenda concerning illegal punishment by an Administrative Commission of Maskouski district of Brest was considered. As we have informed, on July 26 A. Sharenda and several activists were handing out informational leaflets about a meeting before an authorized meeting, which was later banned in the last minute. The activists were detained and fined from 30,000 to 100,000 BYR, as leaflets allegedly “contained information aimed at damaging state and public order”. During the court proceedings A. Sharenda asked to conduct the case in Belarusian. After a 15-minute talk judge agreed, while a representative of the Administrative commission L.Malevich told that in case Judge and A. Sharenda would talk in Belarusian, she wouldn’t understand and wouldn’t be able to represent interests of the commission. The court started to look for an interpreter for Ms. Malevich (though she said that she had been learning the language and even read Karatkevich). As it turned out, an interpreter for L.Malevich would be available only in a month." Charter 97
- October 4, 2006: "Belarusian Language Society Struggles for Teaching of Belarusian History in Belarusian Language. In its letter dated 3 October the administration of the public association Belarusian Language Society proposed to the head of the Government Siarhei Sidorski to set aside the decision of the Education Ministry according to which the Belarusian history and geography was transferred to the Russian language of teaching in the senior forms of general Russian-language schools since 1 September 2006. The BLS chair Aleh Trusau pointed out that this decision destroys the well-developed system of teaching history and geography of Belarus in Belarusian and also demands additional efforts from the teachers. The author of the letter also states that the spelling and pronunciation of personal and geographical names in Belarusian and Russian differ, as a result of which the pupils will forget the Belarusian versions of these names. Aleh Trusau is of the opinion that setting aside this ‘evidently wrong’ decision of the Ministry of Education will completely correspond to the president’s statement that ‘the streams of folklore, talent and love to the mother-tongue, culture and traditions of the Fatherland will never dry in Belarus’. Another letter was sent to the education minister Aliaksandr Radzkou. Here it is said that the decision about the choice of the language of education is to be solved by the citizens – pupils, their parents and teachers. The minister is asked to show Xerox copies of at least a part of the applications of the Belarusian citizens that there is no possibility to learn the history in Russian. In his interview to BelaPAN Aleh Trusau expressed the hope that ‘the country’s Government understands the role of the Belarusian language in our life, especially after the latest statements of the head of the state at the press-conference with journalists of Russian mass media about the state support of the Belarusian language." Charter 97
- October 3, 2006: Vintsuk Viachorka, the leader of the Belarusian People’s Front Party, gave the following commentary to the statements about the Belarusian language that were made by Aliaksandr Lukashenka during the recent press-conference with Russian journalists: "Usually I try not to comment about those multi-hour plays. However, this time I was hooked by his demagogy about our language: [Lukashenka:] ‘It is untrue that we don’t support the Belarusian language. We support it where it is necessary.’ [Viachorka:] "I’ll draw just one fact witnessing the ‘support’ (taken from the dossier of the Belarusian School Society). In the curriculum year 1993/1994 (the last before Luashenka’s election), 76% of the children who learned in first or preparatory grades were educated in Belarusian. In the capital it was 58,6%. Two years later it was 37,9% and 19,5%, respectively. This year only 21,4% first-grade pupils learn in Belarusian – the percentage has dropped below the survival threshold for the next generation, as has been determined by UNESCO. It is unpleasant to say, but in Minsk it is only 2,4%. I am also concerned about the statement that many mathematical terms are impossible to express in Belarusian as a direct insult to our language and those who speak it." Charter 97
- September 12, 2006: Last Regional Radio Program in Belarusian Closed. The only regional radio program in Belarusian language, "I love our country," has been closed in Baranavichy local radio. On return from summer holidays its authors found out that it is necessary to pay for broadcasting of the program. Not only 30 minutes on air should be paid, but the time needed for recording. It makes more than 130,000 BYR monthly. The program "I love our country" created by the Baranavichy branch of the Belarusian Language Society, was on air for 10 years. The Belarusian language could have been heard on it. Writers, painters, and celebrities from Minsk were among its guests. Its presenters were Ales Horbach, Natallya Urubleuskaya, and Ludmila Malashchanka. What was wrong with Belarusian songs and Belarusian word? However, Beltelekom decided that it is necessary to pay for the program to go on air; there were no advertisements in the program at all. "It is violence over our language and our legacy," said the chairman of Baranavichy branch of the Belarusian language society Viktar Syrytsa in an interview to the European Radio for Belarus. "After our programs listeners phoned us and expressed thanks. Many listeners offered their stories and topics. In fact the program is closed, and the reason is that the Belarusian language and Belarusian culture are not respected now both at the level of the country’s leadership and of local authorities." Charter 97
- September 11, 2006: The organizers of the 11th festival of theatric plays, Belaia Vezha, which is to take place in Brest [Belarus] explain their decision to invite only the Russian-language plays from Belarus with the fact that the event is upheld by the regular committee of the union state of Russian and Belarus. Meanwhile, the Belarusian Ministry of Culture has refused to issue any means for this festival for several years already. Besides Russian-language plays dramatic theaters from other countries will also show plays in Polish, Slovak, Persian, and Turkish. But not a single play in Belarusian." Charter 97
- On April 14, 1998, three youths who were speaking Belarusian as they were walking near Kamarovsky Market in central Mensk were first beaten by security guards and attacked by their dogs, then taken to a police station where they were beaten by police. (Using Belarusian identified them as "members of the opposition and troublemakers.")
- In May, 1998, the newspaper, Nasha Niva, was threatened by the Belarusian government for using Taraskevitza rather than using the officially sanctioned Narkomovka.
- In August, 1998, the newspaper Nasha Niva was in court, defending itself for using the "wrong" (sic) type of Belarusian (that is, Taraskevitza instead of Narkmovoka). In an irony that appears to have escaped the Belarusian bureaucrats, the proceedings were in Russian.
- In August, 1999, two youths were convicted of a minor crime, even though there was no evidence to convict them. The judge ruled that the use of the Belarusian language by the youths in the courtroom was evidence enough.
- In 1998: (1) The Council of Ministers issued more than 2,000 resolutions and only 30 of them were in Belarusian, and (2) The prime minister issued only one percent of his directives in Belarusian. In the first six months of 1999, 8 resolutions and one directive were issued in Belarusian and 1,000 and 190, respectively, in Russian.
- On Dec. 15, 1999: A judge in Brest did not allow the defendants' request for a Belarusian language translator. (source: BelaPAN, No. 60; Wednesday, December 15, 1999; 3:00 p.m.)
- Of the 250 schools in Minsk, only 11 provide instruction in Belarusian. Approximately 114,000 children went to school for the first time this year (123,000 in 1999). The number of first-year schoolchildren in Belarus' classes with instruction in the Belarusian language dropped from 726 last year to approximately 500 this year. (source: BelaPAN, No. 4; Friday, September 1, 2000; 6:20 p.m.)
The statistics require no comment. . . .
It is said that the president of Belarus is not fluent in Belarusian, and that he needs to use "crib notes" while making speeches and statements in Belarusian. (Name another country where its leader is not fluent in the language of that country!)
A small number of newspapers in and out of Belarus are published in the Belarusian language, though with the aging of the emigre communities outside of Belarus and since most of the children of emigres are not fluent in the language, it remains to be seen if the language can survive--at least within Belarus.
The language of Belarus reflects, in part, the complicated history of Belarus. The "regional" language that is a mixture of Russian and Belarusian, trasyanka, noted earlier, is discussed more fully in essays on other Web sites, and on forums such as the Belarus discussion (e-mail) list. Polish, of course, has played a part in the development of Belarusian as well, and is especially a factor in the region of the Polish-Belarus border and the developent and use of Latsinka.
The Future of the Belarusian Language