The mother tongue of Rusyns in the Slovak Republic after 1989:
status, problems and perspectives

Anna PLIŠKOVÁ

Prešovská univerzita v Prešove
(anna.pliskova@unipo.sk)

Keywords: Rusyns, Rusyn language, standard language, language codification, functional domains

Rusyn was codified in the Slovak Republic in 1995 and its norm was based on the two most widespread Rusyn dialects: Eastern-Zemplín and Western-Zemplín. As a result, this language is considered one of the youngest Slavic literary languages. In fact, its history is several centuries old and known due to many struggles in order to find the most suitable form of standard language for Rusyns living not only in modern Slovakia, but also in the whole area of the historic Carpathian Rus. Dealing with the matter of Rusyn language has always been related to the issue of Rusyn national identity: Are Rusyns of Greater Russian or Ukrainian nationality, or are they an autonomous Slavic nationality? T

his question could only be partly answered as late as the end of the 20^th century, in the post-1989 pluralistic society, when Rusyn was codified, which was a natural outcome of the liberal solution to the dilemma of their ethnic affiliation. It also became a fundamental condition for the use of their mother tongue in specific spheres of social life: mass media, religious, stage-theatrical and literary, where Rusyn was also partly used before its codification; however, without fixed orthographic and orthoepic rules. The codification of Rusyn also became a precondition for its introduction to education and officialdom. It is especially its functioning in education which gives this ethnic group hope not only for maintaining and strengthening their national identity, but also for a message being passed onto future generations and a sense of dignity and prestige stemming from their mother tongue being used in spheres more cultured than just that of everyday communication in the family environment.