Belarusian

Where it’s spoken

Belarusian (беларуская мова) is co-official with Russian in Belarus, but its actual use has declined dramatically — UNESCO classifies it as vulnerable. Census surveys show majorities consider it their mother tongue, but daily use is far lower. Belarusian-speaking communities also live in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the diaspora.

What it sounds like

Belarusian preserves features of medieval Ruthenian that Russian and Ukrainian innovated past. It has akanye (unstressed o reduced to a) like Russian, but distinct softening rules. The hard “h” replaces Russian’s “g” sound, and palatalization patterns differ noticeably.

How it’s written

Belarusian uses 32 Cyrillic letters and is distinctive in including ў (short u) and lacking Russian’s и (using і instead). A Latin-script Łacinka tradition exists historically, used by some intellectuals and revived by the opposition diaspora.

History

Belarusian descends from Old Belarusian (Ruthenian), the chancery language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (14th–18th centuries) — one of the most influential medieval Slavic literary languages. Modern standard Belarusian was codified in 1918 and reformed in 1933.