The
Journal of Byelorussian Studies
Vol. IV, No.
1
THE ALPHABET AND ORTHOGRAPHY OF BYELORUSSIAN IN THE 20TH CENTURY
by P.J. Mayo
At the
beginning of the 20th century the Byelorussian
language had no officially established alphabetical or orthographic
norms.
Although many of the characteristic features of Byelorussian
pronunciation
were reflected sporadically in texts as early as the 14th and 15th
centuries
and more frequently - but still with a considerable degree of
inconsistency
- in the 16th and 17th centuries, the further development and
stabilisation
of these features was effectively hindered by subsequent historical
circumstances,
in particular by the suppression of Byelorussia's national identity,
one
aspect of which was the treatment of the Byelorussian language until
the
end of the 19th century as a dialect of Great Russian...
...Clearly
there was a need for standardisation of both
alphabet and orthography, and this need became even more apparent in
the
first decade of the 20th century when at a time of growing national
consciousness
Byelorussian publishing houses were established in Minsk, Vilna, Kiev
and
St. Petersburg...
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