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Belarusan Spoken in: Belarus, Poland, and 14 other countries . Belarusian language . language of the Belarusian people. It is one of the three East Slavonic languages and is spoken in Belarus and abroad. It shares some vocabulary with the languages of the neighbouring Slavic nations, notably with Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian. The Belarusian language, or Belorussian (беларуская мова, BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova, Łacinka: biełaruskaja mova) is the language of the Belarusian people and is spoken in Belarus and abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. Prior to Belarus gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1992, the language was called "Byelorussian" or "Belorussian" (in accordance with the ethnicity and country names: Byelorussians, Byelorussia, the latter being a transliteration from the Russian language.). It belongs to the group of the East Slavonic languages, and shares many grammatical and lexical features with other members of the group. Its predecessor was the Old Belarusian language (up to the 19th cent., conventionally). In Belarus, the Belarusian language is declared as a "language spoken at home" by about 3,686,000 people (36.7% of the population)[3] as of 1999. By less strict criteria, about 6,984,000 (85.6%) of Belarusians declare it their "mother tongue". Other sources put down the "population of the language" as 6,715,000 in Belarus and 9,081,102 in all countries.[5][6] The Belarusian language is the official language of Belarus, along with Russian. Belarusians or Belorussians (Belarusian: Беларусы, Biełarusy, previously also spelled Belarussians, Byelorussians and Belorusians) are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus and form minorities in neighboring Poland (especially in the former Bialystok province), Russia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Noticeable numbers have immigrated to the United States, Brazil and Canada in the early 20th century. Since the breakup of the USSR several hundred thousand have immigrated to the European Union, United States, Canada and Russia. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Belarusian language. There are over 8 million people who associate themselves with the Belarusian ethnicity today.  The native language of the territory of Belarus is Belarusian; however the majority of Belarusians in Belarus are able to speak Russian and often use it as their day-to-day language (especially in Minsk and other large cities). The prefix Bela- translates into "White" so these people were sometimes called White Russians (though not to be confused with the political group of White Russians that opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War). This name was in use in the West for some time in history, together with White Ruthenes, White Ruthenians and similar forms. Using the term "White Russians" is misleading as it incorrectly suggests being a subgroup of Russians and some Belarusians take offense for it being applied. Belarusians trace their name back to the people of Rus and not to Russians, who are also descendants of the people of Rus. Dictionary: |
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