The Poleshuks, or Polishchuks, also known as Polesians (, , , ) are the indigenous population of

Polesia Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and historical region in Eastern Europe within the East European Plain, including the Belarus–Ukraine border region and part of eastern Poland. This region shou ...

(also known as ''Polesie'' and ''Polissia''). Their native speech forms a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

between the Belarusian and Ukrainian languages and includes recently codified

West Polesian West Polesian (захыднёполіськая мова, ''zakhydnyopolis'kaya mova'') is the East Slavic dialect group (or variety) spoken in southwestern Belarus, in northwestern Ukraine and adjoining regions of Poland. There is controver ...

, as well as many local variations and sub-dialects.

History

Since the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, the Poleshuks started developing a sense of identity, influenced by the ethnic politics of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

within the

Polesie Voivodeship Polesie Voivodeship () was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939), named after the historical region of Polesia. It was created by the Council of Ministers of the Second Polish Republic on February 19, 1921, as a result of peac ...

. The voivodship had the sparsest population and among the lowest levels of prosperity, due to its adverse climatic and agricultural (soil) conditions. A 1923 Polish statistical document said that 38.600 of 880.900 of population in Polesie Voivodeship (about 4%) were identified as Polezhuks, who self-identified their ethnicity in the census as '' tutejszy'' ("local"). The document noted that they were using East Slavic dialects, transitional between Ukrainian and Belarusian, sometimes identified as a separate Polesian language. In the 1931 Polish Census the question about ethnicity was replaced with the question about

mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

. As a result, 62.5% of population identified their language as ''tutejszy'' ("local"). (14.5% declared Polish and 10.0% declared Yiddish or Hebrew as mother tongue.) That some respondents declared their language as Belarusian or Ukrainian was interpreted as the formation of the corresponding ethnic consciousness in the area. Currently the ethnic group of Poleshuks is considered one of the distinct cultural and ethnic identities in the area, while most of the population of the Belarusian, Polish and Ukrainian parts of the region of Polesie have assimilated with the respective nations, as well as with Russian ethnos.

At the end of the 1980s, there was a minor campaign in Soviet Byelorussia for the creation of a standard written language for the dialect based on the dialects of Polesia launched by

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian writer Nikolai Shelyagovich and his associates as part of his activities for the recognition of Poleshuks as a separate ethnicity and for their autonomy. However, they received almost no support and the campaign eventually melted away.''Цадко О.'
Полесье и опыт национального конструирования (1988–1995)
Палітычная сфера. Гісторыя і нацыя, no.24 (1), 2016, pp. 78-93. Sienkiewicze, wnetrze izby 1938 (67555274) (cropped).jpg, The interior of the house, Sieńkavičy, before 1939 Typy poleskie ante 1939 (67555225) (cropped).jpg, Poleshuks, before 1939 Koncert pasterzy pod Sityckiem na Polesiu ca 1936 (67546491) (cropped).jpg, Shepherds near Sicick, circa 1936 Narcyz Witczak-Witaczyński - Rewia wojskowa przed królem Rumunii Karolem II na Polu Mokotowskim (107-820-12).jpg, Military marsh of Poleshuks, 1937

References

Ethnic groups in Belarus East Slavs Ethnic groups in Ukraine Demographic history of Poland {{Ethno-stub

History

See also

References