The Rusyn language question revisited

Abstract

For nearly three centuries the East Slavic population living in the Carpathian Mountains, known as Rusyns, has been faced with trying to resolve the so-called language question. In other words, which language should be used for literary purposes - the local Rusyn dialect, the Church Slavonic liturgical language, or the literary language of a related Slavic people such as Russian or Ukrainian? The debate over this issue has since the second half of the nineteenth century been closely linked to the question of national identity, that is, were the indigenous East Slavs in the Carpathians Russians, Ukrainians, or a distinct nationality known as Rusyn or Carpatho-Rusyn? After World War II, the Soviet-influenced Communist regimes in all countries where Rusyns lived (with the exception of Yugoslavia) "resolved" the language question by declaring that only Ukrainian was acceptable. Since the political changes that started in 1989, a Rusyn national revival is underway and concrete efforts are being made to create a distinct Rusyn literary language. © Walter de Gruyter.