The literary tradition and its language

C2 — Лексіка

The writers a reader is expected to know, what each does to the language, and where to start reading.

I know the main writers, what each does to the language, and in what order to read them.

Examples

Купала пісаў мовай, блізкай да народнай песні. — Kupala wrote in a language close to folk song.
У Быкава кароткія сказы і малы слоўнік. — Bykau has short sentences and a small vocabulary.
Караткевіч чакае ведання гістарычнай лексікі. — Karatkievic expects a knowledge of historical vocabulary.
Колас найбагацейшы на словы пра прыроду. — Kolas is the richest in words about nature.
Прачытай старонку цалкам, а потым глядзі словы. — Read a whole page first, then look words up.

VocabularyC2

The literary tradition and its language

The writers a reader is expected to know, what each does to the language, and where to start reading.

Learning Goal

I know the main writers, what each does to the language, and in what order to read them.

Exam Skills:BSU · WritingBSU · Speaking

Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?

Купала пісаў мовай, блізкай да народнай песні.

Kupala wrote in a language close to folk song.

У Быкава кароткія сказы і малы слоўнік.

Bykau has short sentences and a small vocabulary.

Караткевіч чакае ведання гістарычнай лексікі.

Karatkievic expects a knowledge of historical vocabulary.

Колас найбагацейшы на словы пра прыроду.

Kolas is the richest in words about nature.

Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?

Why a grammar course ends here

At C2 the remaining work is not rules but exposure. The writers below are the shared reference points, and knowing what each does to the language tells you what to expect before you open the book.

The founders

Janka Kupala (1882-1942) - lyric and dramatic verse; the poet who established that the language could carry a full literary range. His diction is close to folk song and his syntax is deliberately simple.
Jakub Kolas (1882-1956) - verse and prose, and the great describer of landscape and village life. His vocabulary is the richest of the founding generation for anything to do with nature and the countryside.
Maksim Bahdanovic (1891-1917) - the formalist, working in imported fixed forms to demonstrate range. Short, technically dense, and the most rewarding to read closely.

The twentieth century

Vasil Bykau (1924-2003) - war prose, and the plainest style in the canon. Short sentences, small vocabulary, no ornament, and enormous pressure inside it. He is the easiest of the major writers for a learner to read and the hardest to imitate.
Uladzimir Karatkievic (1930-1984) - historical novels and stories, reaching back to the Grand Duchy. The opposite of Bykau: lavish, dense with historicism and dialect, and the writer who most rewards the vocabulary you built in the earlier articles.

A complication worth knowing

Where to start

Kupala's shorter poems - short lines, folk diction, and the metre carries the stress for you.
Bykau - plain prose, and the vocabulary is small enough to read without constant interruption.
Kolas for description, once your nature vocabulary is up to it.
Karatkievic last, because he expects the historical vocabulary.

Reading as a learner

Read a whole page before you look anything up. The habit of stopping at every unknown word prevents you from ever meeting a word twice in context, which is how vocabulary actually sticks.

Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises

Practice Exercises

Typical errors: starting with Karatkievic before the historical vocabulary is there, and stopping at every unknown word.

Common Error Patterns

Starting with the hardest writer

Kupala and Bykau first; Karatkievic last.

Looking up every unknown word

Read a page, then look up.

Reading by translating rather than reading

Let the context carry the unknown words.

Assuming a plain style is an easy style

It is the hardest of all to write.

Купала пісаў мовай, блізкай да народнай песні.

Kupala wrote in a language close to folk song.

Which is why his poems are a good first reading.

У Быкава кароткія сказы і малы слоўнік.

Bykau has short sentences and a small vocabulary.

The easiest major writer to read and the hardest to imitate.

Караткевіч чакае ведання гістарычнай лексікі.

Karatkievic expects a knowledge of historical vocabulary.

Which is why he comes last in the reading order.

Колас найбагацейшы на словы пра прыроду.

Kolas is the richest in words about nature.

Read him once your nature vocabulary can support it.

Прачытай старонку цалкам, а потым глядзі словы.

Read a whole page first, then look words up.

Meeting a word twice in context is what makes it stick.

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Practice in course

Apply this grammar in C2 course exercises

C2 Course

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Frequently asked questions

When do you use The literary tradition and its language?: At C2 the remaining work is not rules but exposure. The writers below are the shared reference points, and knowing what each does to the language tells you what to expect before you open the book.
How do you form The literary tradition and its language?: Sviatlana Alieksijevic won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015, and writes in Russian. That a country's best-known living author writes in the other state language is itself part of the picture the previous article described, and it is a fact worth having straight rather than stepping around. Read a whole page before you look anything up. The habit of stopping at every unknown word prevents you from ever meeting a word twice in context, which is how vocabulary actually sticks.
What are common mistakes with The literary tradition and its language?: Typical errors: starting with Karatkievic before the historical vocabulary is there, and stopping at every unknown word.

Why a grammar course ends here

At C2 the remaining work is not rules but exposure. The writers below are the shared reference points, and knowing what each does to the language tells you what to expect before you open the book.

The founders

Janka Kupala (1882-1942) - lyric and dramatic verse; the poet who established that the language could carry a full literary range. His diction is close to folk song and his syntax is deliberately simple.
Jakub Kolas (1882-1956) - verse and prose, and the great describer of landscape and village life. His vocabulary is the richest of the founding generation for anything to do with nature and the countryside.
Maksim Bahdanovic (1891-1917) - the formalist, working in imported fixed forms to demonstrate range. Short, technically dense, and the most rewarding to read closely.

The twentieth century

Vasil Bykau (1924-2003) - war prose, and the plainest style in the canon. Short sentences, small vocabulary, no ornament, and enormous pressure inside it. He is the easiest of the major writers for a learner to read and the hardest to imitate.
Uladzimir Karatkievic (1930-1984) - historical novels and stories, reaching back to the Grand Duchy. The opposite of Bykau: lavish, dense with historicism and dialect, and the writer who most rewards the vocabulary you built in the earlier articles.

A complication worth knowing

Where to start

Kupala's shorter poems - short lines, folk diction, and the metre carries the stress for you.
Bykau - plain prose, and the vocabulary is small enough to read without constant interruption.
Kolas for description, once your nature vocabulary is up to it.
Karatkievic last, because he expects the historical vocabulary.

Reading as a learner

Read a whole page before you look anything up. The habit of stopping at every unknown word prevents you from ever meeting a word twice in context, which is how vocabulary actually sticks.

Frequently asked questions

When do you use The literary tradition and its language?

At C2 the remaining work is not rules but exposure. The writers below are the shared reference points, and knowing what each does to the language tells you what to expect before you open the book.

How do you form The literary tradition and its language?

Sviatlana Alieksijevic won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015, and writes in Russian. That a country's best-known living author writes in the other state language is itself part of the picture the previous article described, and it is a fact worth having straight rather than stepping around. Read a whole page before you look anything up. The habit of stopping at every unknown word prevents you from ever meeting a word twice in context, which is how vocabulary actually sticks.

What are common mistakes with The literary tradition and its language?

Typical errors: starting with Karatkievic before the historical vocabulary is there, and stopping at every unknown word.