| Rusyn | |
| Nativename: | Русинськый |
| Region: |  Zakarpattia (Ukraine) Eastern Slovakia Southern Poland Hungary Northern RomaniaVojvodina (Serbia)  Eastern Croatia |
| Speakers: | Estimated: At least 600,000.[1] Census population: 60,000.[2] |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam1: | Indo-European |
| Fam2: | Balto-Slavic |
| Fam3: | Slavic |
| Fam4: | East Slavic |
| Nation: | Vojvodina (Serbia) |
| Iso2: | sla |
| Iso3: | rue |
Rusyn (русинськый язык;) is an East Slavic idiom that is spoken by the Rusyns. Opinions differ among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian.[3] The political implications of the dispute add to the controversy.
Rusyn is spoken in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine, in northeastern Slovakia, southeastern Poland (where it is often called łemkowski 'Lemko', from their characteristic word lem/лем 'only'), and Hungary (where the people and language are called Ruten). The Pannonian Rusyn language in Serbia is sometimes considered part of the Rusyn language group, although some linguists consider that language to be West Slavic. In Ukraine, Rusyn is usually considered a dialect of Ukrainian, as it is very close to the Ukrainian Hutsul dialect, but some speakers sometimes prefer to consider themselves distinct from Ukrainians.
Attempts to standardize the language suffer from its being divided among four countries, so that in each of these countries there has been devised a separate orthography (in each case with Cyrillic letters) and grammatical standard, based on different Rusyn dialects. The cultural centres of Carpatho-Rusyn are Prešov in Slovakia, Uzhhorod and Mukacheve in Ukraine, Krynica and Legnica in Poland,Ruski Krstur in Vojvodina and Budapest in Hungary. Many very active Rusyns also live in Canada and the USA.
It is very difficult to count the speakers of Rusyn, but their number is sometimes estimated at almost a million, most of them in Ukraine and Slovakia. The first country to officially recognize Rusyn, more exactly Pannonian Rusyn, as an official language was former Yugoslavia. In 1995, Rusyn was recognized as a minority language in Slovakia, enjoying the status of official language in municipalities where more than 20% of the inhabitants speak Rusyn.
Boiko, Hutsul and Dolinian are identified (and for the same speakers) as Ukrainian dialects and not Rusyn for several speakers that they are identified themselves Ukrainians.
In the introduction to the book "Slavic languages," written in 1973, ten years before glasnost, Samuel Bernshtein writes about "western Ukrainians" and the "literary language" which they "until recently [i.e., 1973]" had.
| Capital | Small | Name | Translit. | Pronunciation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| А | а | a | a | ||
| Б | б | бы | b | ||
| В | в | вы | v | ||
| Г | г | гы | h | ||
| Ґ | ґ | ґы | g | ||
| Д | д | ды | d | ||
| Е | е | e | e | ||
| Є | є | є | je | ||
| Ё | ё | ё | jo | not present in Pannonian Rusyn | |
| Ж | ж | жы | ž | ||
| З | з | зы | z | ||
| И | и | и | y | ||
| І | і | i | i | not present in Pannonian Rusyn | |
| Ы | ы | ы | y | not present in Pannonian Rusyn | |
| Ї | ї | ї | ji | ||
| Й | й | йы | j | ||
| К | к | кы | k | ||
| Л | л | лы | l | ||
| М | м | мы | m | ||
| Н | н | ны | n | ||
| О | о | o | o | ||
| П | п | пы | p | ||
| Р | р | ры | r | ||
| С | с | сы | s | ||
| Т | т | ты | t | ||
| У | у | у | u | ||
| Ф | ф | фы | f | ||
| Х | х | хы | x, ch | ||
| Ц | ц | цы | c | ||
| Ч | ч | чы | č | ||
| Ш | ш | шы | š | ||
| Щ | щ | щы | šč | ||
| Ѣ | ѣ | їть | Used before World War II | ||
| Ю | ю | ю | ju | ||
| Я | я | я | ja | ||
| Ь | ь | мнягкый знак (ірь) | ′ | marks preceding consonant's palatalization | |
| Ъ | ъ | твердый знак (ір) | ′ | not present in Pannonian Rusyn |