Why the same Belarusian word has two accepted spellings, what the differences actually are, and which one you will meet where.
I can write consistently in наркамаўка and read тарашкевіца without difficulty.
Schau dir diese Beispiele an. Kannst du das grammatische Muster erkennen?
Сёння выпаў першы снег.
The first snow fell today.
Ён вывучае класічную філасофію.
He studies classical philosophy.
Гэтая песня вядомая ў кожнай вёсцы.
This song is known in every village.
У незалежных выданнях часта пішуць інакш.
Independent publications often spell things differently.
Achte auf die hervorgehobenen Teile. Was haben sie gemeinsam?
The first widely accepted Belarusian grammar was published by Branislau Taraskievic in Vilnia in 1918. A state reform in 1933 changed the spelling, moving it closer to Russian. The reformed spelling became the official standard and is known as наркамаўка, after the People's Commissariat that issued it. The pre-reform system continued in emigration publishing and was revived inside the country from the late 1980s under the name тарашкевіца, or, since the 1990s, the classical orthography.
| Feature | Тарашкевіца | Наркамаўка |
|---|---|---|
| Assimilative softness marked | сьнег, песьня, зьмена | снег, песня, змена |
| Soft л in Western loans | клясычны, філязофія | класічны, філасофія |
| Loan vowels | often я where the source has a | closer to the Russian rendering |
| Foreign г | distinguishes г and ґ | one letter г |
The first row is the one you will notice immediately, and it is also the clearest: тарашкевіца writes the soft sign where the consonant is softened by the one after it; наркамаўка does not.
This course, like the state education system, the press inside the country and the academic grammars, uses наркамаўка. That is the standard you should learn to write.
You will nonetheless meet тарашкевіца constantly, because a large share of independent publishing, emigration literature and online writing uses it. Reading it is a skill worth having, and the differences are regular enough that once you know the four rows above, an unfamiliar spelling stops being an obstacle.
Neither system is a dialect, and neither is incorrect Belarusian. They are two ways of writing the same language, differing in how much of the pronunciation the spelling shows and how foreign words are adapted. Mixing them within a single text, however, is an error in both systems - pick one and be consistent.
Converting mentally is mostly mechanical. Drop the soft signs that mark assimilation, harden the л in loanwords, and you have the official form: сьвет → свет, клясык → класік, філязофія → філасофія.
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses C1 an
ÜbungsaufgabenTypical errors: mixing the two systems within one text, and treating an unfamiliar spelling as a mistake.
Mixing the two orthographies in one text
Choose one and hold to it.
Treating a classical spelling as a mistake
It is a different norm for the same language.
Writing the assimilative soft sign in official spelling
Наркамаўка has снег, песня, змена.
Writing the soft л in loans in official spelling
Класічны, філасофія.
Сёння выпаў першы снег.
The first snow fell today.
Official spelling; the classical orthography would write <em>сьнег</em>.
Ён вывучае класічную філасофію.
He studies classical philosophy.
Both loanwords in the official form; the classical orthography has <em>клясычную філязофію</em>.
Гэтая песня вядомая ў кожнай вёсцы.
This song is known in every village.
<em>Песня</em> without the soft sign - the 1933 change in one word.
У незалежных выданнях часта пішуць інакш.
Independent publications often spell things differently.
Where you will meet the classical orthography most often.
У адным тэксце трэба трымацца аднаго правапісу.
One text should keep to one orthography.
Mixing is an error under both systems.
Im Kurs üben
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses C1 an