Pannonian Rusyn

Pannonian Rusyn journal Creativity (Ruthenian: Творчосц), no. 1 (1975)

Most commonly, native speakers refer to their language simply as Rusky (Ruthenian: руски язик / rusky i͡azik), that renders in English as Rusyn. Sometimes they also use the somewhat archaic term Rusnacky (Ruthenian: руснацки язик / rusnatsky jazyk), that renders in English as Rusnak. These terms are used both by laypersons in daily conversation, and by Pannonian-Rusyn linguists in native-language scholarly works.[9][10][11]

Since those terms have historically been (and still are) used by Carpathian Rusyns and other East Slavs as endonyms for their own vernacular,[12] a need emerged for an appropriate adjective to identify this particular linguistic variety. In this spirit, Gabriel Kostelnik proposed the term Bačvansko-Rusky (Ruthenian: бачваньско-руски язик, lit. 'Bačka Rusyn') to refer to the language spoken in the region of Bačka (modern-day Serbia).[13]

Eventually, the more general term, Bačka-Srem, was adopted by several scholars and thus also encompassed the varieties of the language spoken in the region of Srem (modern-day Serbia and Croatia).[14][15] Terms such as Vojvodina Rusyn or Vojvodinian Rusyn were alternatively used to refer to all variants in the region of Vojvodina. Even wider term Yugoslav Rusyn was sometimes also used during the existence of former Yugoslavia.[16]

Finally, during the 1970s and 1980s, Rusyn writer and artist Yulian Kolyesarov proposed the term Panonsko-Rusky (Ruthenian: панонско-руски язик) or Pannonian Rusyn.[17][18]

In spite of all the aforementioned endonymic tems, some modern authors still opt to use those based on the exonymic term Ruthenian. Since native speakers do not use Ruthenian or related terms for self-identification in their own language,[5] such terms are likewise not used in works written in the native language. Still, the terms are employed by some authors in various English-language and non-Slavic works; sometimes in a very general manner. For instance, instead of using regional identifiers (such as Pannonian Ruthenian, corresponding to Pannonian Rusyn), several of these authors have begun to simply designate that linguistic variety solely as Ruthenian, excluding any regional or other adjectives.[19][20][21]

Thus, a peculiar terminological situation has emerged as the term Ruthenian language already has a specific and well-established meaning in both traditional and scientific contexts and primarily refers to late medieval and early modern varieties of East Slavic as were spoken in the regions of modern-day Ukraine, Belarus from the 15th until 18th centuries.[22] More recently in the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the corresponding term (German: ruthenische Sprache) was employed until 1918 as the official exonymic term for the entire body of East Slavic languages within the borders of the Monarchy.[23]

Mayor office written in four official languages used in the City of Novi Sad (Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Rusyn).

Both Pannonian Rusyn and Carpathian Rusyn are East Slavic languages. Pannonian Rusyn differs from Carpathian Rusyn in that the former has been influenced by the surrounding South Slavic languages (especially Serbian), whilst the latter has been influenced by the surrounding West Slavic languages (especially Polish and Slovak). Both forms of Rusyn are closely related to Russian Church Slavonic, Old Ruthenian and modern Russian.

Among the West Slavic languages, Rusyn has been especially influenced by the Eastern Slovak dialects. This influence occurred before the Rusyns emigrated to Pannonia from the north Carpathian area, around the middle of the 18th century.

Pannonian Rusyn has also been treated as a separate language from Carpatho-Rusyn. By some scholars, mainly American scholars, Pannonian Rusyn has been treated as a West Slavic language, and Carpatho-Rusyn as an East Slavic language, which would make Pannonian Rusyn the only West Slavic language to use the Cyrillic script.

In former Yugoslavia, Rusyns were recognized as a distinct national minority, with rights that included education in their own language. Their legal status was regulated in Yugoslav federal units of Serbia and Croatia. In the Constitution of Serbia, that was adopted on 9 April 1963, Rusyns were designated as one of seven (explicitly named) national minorities (Article 82),[29] and by the Constitutional Law of 21 February 1969, Rusyn language was confirmed as one of five official languages in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Article 67).[30]

Consequently, a Rusyn language high school was established in Ruski Krstur (Руски Керестур, Serbian: Руски Крстур / Ruski Krstur), the cultural centre of the Pannonian Rusyns. At least 250 Rusyn language books have been printed so far for the high school and elementary schools in the region.)

There is a professorial chair in Rusyn Studies at Novi Sad University.[31] [32]

There are regular television and radio programmes in Pannonian Rusyn, including the multilingual radio station Radio Novi Sad, which serves all of Vojvodina. The breakdown of minutes of Novi Sad original broadcasting by language in 2001 was: 23.5% Serbian, 23.5% Hungarian, 5.7% Slovak, 5.7% Romanian, 3.8% Rusyn, 2.2% Romani, and 0.2% Ukrainian.

Pannonian Rusyn was codified by Mikola Kočiš in Правопис руского язика (Pravopis ruskoho jazika; "Orthography of Rusyn", 1971) and Ґраматика руского язика (Gramatika ruskoho jazika; "Grammar of Rusyn", 1974) and is written in a Cyrillic script.

The Pannonian Rusyn alphabet

А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Ґ ґ	Д д	Е е	Є є
Ж ж	З з	И и	Ї ї	Й й	К к	Л л	М м
Н н	О о	П п	Р р	С с	Т т	У у	Ф ф
Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Щ щ	Ю ю	Я я	Ь ь

The Pannonian Rusyn alphabet has 32 letters. It includes all the letters of the Ukrainian alphabet except І/і. Like the Carpathian Rusyn alphabets, and like the Ukrainian alphabet until 1990, the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet places ь after я, while the vast majority of Cyrillic alphabets place ь before э (if present), ю, and я.

• Old Ruthenian
• Carpathian Rusyn language
• Pannonian Rusyns
• Rusyn exonyms (Vojvodina)

Pannonian Rusyn test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• National Council of the Rusyn National Minority in Serbia