Etymology
In Belarusian the word literally means low quality hay, when indigent farmers mix (shake: , ) fresh grass/straw with the yesteryear's dried hay. The word acquired the second meaning ("language mixture of low quality") relatively recently, in the second half of the 1980s, when a series of publications in the literary newspaper criticized developments in the use of the Belarusian language under Soviet rule.Zaprudski, Siarhiej Zur öffentlichen Diskussion der weißrussischen Sprachkultur, zum Aufkommen des Terminus Trasjanka und zur modernen Trasjankaforschung. In Hentschel, G. et al. (eds.): “Trasjanka und Surzhyk - gemischte weißrussisch-russische und ukrainisch-russische Rede. Sprachlicher Inzest in Weißrussland und der Ukraine?” Frankfurt/M.: Lang, in print.History
Mixed speech in pre-Soviet and early Soviet era
In the area of present-day Belarus the mixing of speech has a relatively long history. This is because the Belarusian (and, similarly, Ukrainian) territories were for a long time borderlands in which local dialects contacted with closely related socially dominant languages ( Polish,After World War II
The phenomenon referred to as “trasianka” since the 1980s had its origins in the fundamental socio-demographic changes which took place in Soviet Belarus after World War II, and in the eastern parts of Belarus partially already before World War II. The industrialization of Soviet Belarus led to a massive labor migration from villages to towns. While in 1959 31% of the population lived in towns, in 1990 the urban share had already reached 66%.Marples David A. “Belarus. From Soviet Rule to Nuclear Catastrophe.” Basingstoke, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1996. At the same time ethnic Russians from other parts of the Soviet Union migrated to Soviet Belarus and, in many cases, took on leadership tasks in the Belarusian communist party, administration and state companies. Consequently, the language use of former Belarusian villagers - and new town dwellers - had to adapt from (mostly dialectal) Belarusian to standard Russian, a target which speakers seldom reached, however.Zaprudski, Sjarhej In the grip of replacive bilingualism: the Belarusian language in contact with Russian. “International Journal of the Sociology of Language” No. 183. (2007) 97-118 As a result of this struggle for linguistic accommodation, the so-called ''trasianka'' in its contemporary form emerged, and, moreover, children of its speakers grew up using mixed Belarusian-Russian variety. Hentschel, Gerd Belorusskij, russkij i belorussko-russkaja smeshannaja rech. “Voprosy jazykoznanija” No. 1. (2013) 53-76Linguistic status
Due to the negative connotation of the word “trasianka” it has been suggested to abandon it in the linguistic debate and use the term “Belarusian-Russian mixed speech” instead.Hentschel, Gerd and Zeller, Jan Patrick Gemischte Rede, gemischter Diskurs, Sprechertypen: Weißrussisch, Russisch und gemischte Rede in der Kommunikation weißrussischer Familien. “Wiener Slawistischer Almanach” No. 70. (2012) 127-155 The scientific discussion on the Belarusian-Russian mixed speech has begun in the first half of the 1990s.Bieder, Hermann Die weißrussisch-russische Mischsprache (Trasjanka) als Forschungsproblem. In Hentschel, G. et al. (eds.): “Trasjanka und Surzhyk - gemischte weißrussisch-russische und ukrainisch-russische Rede. Sprachlicher Inzest in Weißrussland und der Ukraine?” Frankfurt/M.: Lang, in print. Influential Belarusian scholars have pointed out the spontaneous, individual, “piecemeal” or even “chaotic” fashion of Belarusian-Russian speech mixing.Mechkovskaia, Nina B. Iazykovaia situaciia v Belarusi: Eticheskiie kollizii dvuiazychiia. “Russian Linguistics” Vol. 18 No. 3. (1994) 299-322Cychun, H. A. Soziolinguistische, soziokulturelle und psychologische Grundlagen gemischten Sprechens. In Hentschel, G. et al. (eds.): “Trasjanka und Surzhyk - gemischte weißrussisch-russische und ukrainisch-russische Rede. Sprachlicher Inzest in Weißrussland und der Ukraine?” Frankfurt/M.: Lang, in print. These ‘early’ debates were based mainly on informal observations though, due to a lack of text bodies in the mixed speech. A first empirical case study on the phenomenon has been undertaken only in the early 2000s in the capital Minsk.Liskovets, Irina Trasjanka: A code of rural migrants in Minsk. “International Journal of Bilingualism” No. 13. (2009) 396-412 In the years 2008-2013 a research project carried out by linguists and social scientists at the University of Oldenburg (in cooperation with partners from theSociology of mixed speech use
The sociological and sociolinguistic component of the above-mentioned research project on mixed language use in Belarus showed, inter alia, the following results: Asked about their ‘native language’, roughly 38% of around 1200 respondents named the Belarusian-Russian mixed speech, 49% Belarusian and 30% Russian (more than one answer was allowed).Hentschel, Gerd and Kittel, Bernhard Weißrussische Dreisprachigkeit? Zur sprachlichen Situation in Weißrussland auf der Basis von Urteilen von Weißrussen über die Verbreitung ihrer Sprachen im Lande. “Wiener Slawistischer Almanach” No. 67. (2011) 107-135 As their ‘first language’ roughly 50% declared the mixed speech, 42% Russian and 18% Belarusian (again more than one answer was allowed). Finally, as their ‘primarily used language’ roughly 55% named Russian, 41% the mixed speech and 4% Belarusian. The results of the research project contradict the popular opinion that the use of Belarusian-Russian mixed speech is an indicator for a poor education level and a lack of proficiency in Russian or Belarusian standard language. The mixed speech is widespread among Belarusians from all educational levels and age groups and used alongside the standard language, which in most cases is Russian. The degree to which individuals tend to approximate ‘their’ mixed speech use to Russian or, respectively, to Belarusian depends on such factors as interlocutors, conversation place, topic etc. Among young Belarusians the relative weight of mixed speech use decreases in favour of Russian.Phonology
Phonology of Belarusian-Russian mixed speech is closer to Belarusian. From the point of view of the Russian speaker, the following distinctions are noticeable: * presence of palatal affricate consonants ">z̪ʲ ">s̪ʲinstead of ">ʲ ">ʲ i.e. ">�dz̪ʲenʲ– "день", "day" – instead of ">�dʲenʲ ">�ts̪ʲixʲɪ– "тихий", "quiet" – instead of ">�tʲixʲɪjref name=":0"> * absence of palatalization of the consonant in front of "> i.e. ">�pjʉt– "пьют", "(they) drink" – instead of ">�pʲjʉtref name=":0" /> * assimilative palatalization of the consonants, i.e. ">�dz̪ʲvʲerɨ– "двери", "doors" – instead of ">�dvʲerʲɪref name=":0" /> * aspirate ">ʲ i.e. ʰvʲatə">�sʲʰvʲatə("свята", "holiday"), ʰts̪ʲ">�ʂɛsʲʰts̪ʲ("шесть", "six") * “hard” hushing sibilants, ">�͡ʂas in Belarusian instead of ">͡ɕas in Russian, i.e. ">�ʈ͡ʂaʂkə– "чашка", "cup" – instead of ">�t͡ɕæʂkəref name=":0" /> * “hard” ">instead of ">ʲ i.e. ">�trapkə– "тряпка", "rag" – instead of ">�trʲæpkəref name=":0" /> * presence of non-syllabic bilabial ">�in place of etymological (в) and (л) and instead of Russian normative ">in the end of the word, i.e. ">�praʊdə– "правда", "truth" – instead of ">�pravdə ">�voʊk– "волк", "wolf" – instead of ">�volk ">ʲɪˈsaʊ– "писал", "(he) wrote" – instead of ">ʲɪˈsalref name=":0" />Vocabulary
Belarusian-Russian mixed speech mostly includes Russian words which have Belarusian analogue shaped by Belarusian phonology and morphology. Some examples of high-frequency Russian words are (Belarusian and English translations are given in parenthesis): * Nouns: (, "child"), (, "flower"), (, "money") * Verbs: (, "to work"), (, "to do"), (, "to wait") * Adjectives: (, "past"), (, "next"), (, "beautiful"), (, "bad") Many words have Russian stem, but other morphemes come from Belarusian. Part of vocabulary comes exclusively from Belarusian (Russian and English translations are given in parenthesis when necessary): * Family titles: (, "mother"), (, "father"), (, "daughter"); some words sound the same in both languages: ("son"), ("brother"), ("grandma"); or differ by regular phonetic substitutions: ("sister"), ("son-in-law"), ("daughter-in-law"), ("grandpa"), ("grandson"), ("bride"), ("bridegroom"). * Name of some fruits and vegetables: (, "potato"), (, "beet"), (, "thyme") * The word (, "home”) Professional and urban words are borrowed almost exclusively from Russian.Morphology
Inflection mostly conforms with the norms of the Belarusian language. Russian and Belarusian have different norms of declension, especially case declension. For instance, in the instrumental case in Russian masculine nouns ending in -а have inflection -ей, -ой, while in Belarusian the ending becomes -ам – the norm that is present in Belarusian-Russian mixed speech: гаварыла з Мишам, з Вовам ("spoke with Misha, with Vova"). Verbs in the 3rd person singular miss final -т, including verbs coming from Russian: атвячае ("(she) answers"), знае ("(she) knows"), таргуе ("(she) sells"). Sometimes, it is replaced with -ц: атвячаець, знаець, таргуець. In the infinitive form of Russian verbs final -ть is replaced with -ц: весиць ("to weight"), знаць ("to know"). Postfix -ся is more frequently used, even when Russian norm requires -сь: началася ("(she has) started"), баялася ("(she) was afraid"), прышлося ("had to"), спуталася ("become tangled"), учылися ("(they) studied"). The imperative form is similar to the Belarusian norm: verbs ending in - or - which are under stress, i.e. ждицё мяне ("wait for me").See also
* Taraškievica *References
Further reading
* DUNIN-MARTSINKIEVICH, Vintsent (1984): ''Tvory''. Ed. by Ia. Ianushkevich. Minsk: Mastatskaia litaratura. *HENTSCHEL, Gerd (2013): Belorusskij, russkij i belorussko-russkaja smeshannaja rech‘."Voprosy jazykoznanija", No. 1, pp. 53–76. *HENTSCHEL, Gerd (2014): Belarusian and Russian in the Mixed Speech of Belarus. In: Besters-Dilger, J., et al. (eds.): ''Congruence in Contact-Induced Language Change''. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter, pp. 93–121. *HENTSCHEL, Gerd, and KITTEL, BERNHARD (2011): Weißrussische Dreisprachigkeit? Zur sprachlichen Situation in Weißrussland auf der Basis von Urteilen von Weißrussen über die Verbreitung "ihrer Sprachen" im Lande. "Wiener Slawistischer Almanach", No. 67, pp. 107–135. *HENTSCHEL, Gerd, and ZELLER, JAN PATRICK (2012): Gemischte Rede, gemischter Diskurs, Sprechertypen: Weißrussisch, Russisch und gemischte Rede in der Kommunikation weißrussischer Familien. "Wiener Slawistischer Almanach", No. 70, pp. 127–155 * KALITA I. V. (2010) Современная Беларусь: языки и национальная идентичность. Ústí nad Labem, , 2010, 300 s. s. 112-190. * KITTEL, Bernhard et al. (2010): Mixed Language Usage in Belarus. The Sociostructural Background of Language Choice. "International Journal of the Sociology of Language", No. 206, pp. 47–71. *LISKOVETS, Irina V. (2002): Trasianka: proiskhozhdeniie, sushchnost', funkcionirovaniie. ''Antropologiia, fol'kloristika, lingvistika'', 2, pp. 329–343. *LISKOVETS, Irina V. (2003)External links