West Polesian | |
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захыднёполіськая мова | |
Native to | Belarus, Ukraine, Poland |
Region | Southwestern Belarus, northwestern Ukraine, bordering regions of Poland |
Indo-European
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Early forms | |
Dialects | |
Cyrillic | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | west2977 |
West Polesian (захыднёполіськая мова, zakhydnyopolis'kaya mova[citation needed]) is the East Slavic dialect group (or variety) spoken in southwestern Belarus, in northwestern Ukraine and adjoining regions of Poland. There is controversy regarding whether West Polesian belongs to Belarusian or Ukrainian, or is a separate microlanguage (as has been proposed by linguist Aleksandr Dulichenko).
Various variants or dialects of West Polesian are used in everyday speech. Attempts were made in the 1990s by Nikolai Shelyagovich to develop a standard written language,[1] although his efforts received almost no support and the campaign eventually ceased.[2] In particular, writer Nil Hilevich and some others spoke against Shelyagovich, claiming that he represented a threat to the national integrity of Belarus, and labelled "Yotvingian separatism".[3]