Belarusian

Belarusian (беларуская мова) is an East Slavic language closely related to Ukrainian and Russian and is a state language of Belarus alongside Russian. It is normally written in Cyrillic, including the distinctive letter ў, and its spelling often represents regular sound changes such as akannye. The modern literary language took shape around the turn of the twentieth century, and Branislaŭ Taraškievič’s 1918 grammar was highly influential. Today’s official norm descends from the Soviet spelling reform of 1933 and later revisions, while the classical Taraškievica norm remains in some publishing, cultural, and diaspora use; the two traditions differ in more than spelling alone. Belarusian, Russian, and mixed Belarusian-Russian speech coexist, but Russian predominates in many urban and public domains, while Belarusian remains central to literature, culture, education, and national identity.