[lg policy] Shocking! Belarusian President Speaks Belarusian

Thu Jul 3 20:37:24 UTC 2014

 Shocking! Belarusian President Speaks Belarusian

   - : <http://www.rferl.org/emailtofriend/article/25443432.html?share=true>

  [image: The last time Lukashenka addressed the nation in Belarusian was
in 1994.]
<http://gdb.rferl.org/3AB44A4B-0F6F-42F3-86E4-75071EA81942_mw1024_s_n.jpg>
The last time Lukashenka addressed the nation in Belarusian was in 1994.

   -
   -

   -
   -
   -
   -
   <http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.rferl.org%2fcontent%2fshocking-belarusian-president-speaks-belarusian-lukashenka%2f25443432.html&description=Shocking%21+Belarusian+President+Speaks+Belarusian&media=http%3a%2f%2fgdb.rferl.org%2f3AB44A4B-0F6F-42F3-86E4-75071EA81942.jpg>

   Related Articles

<http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus-lukashenka-interview-dozhd-tv/25394678.html>[image:
Video] Straight-Talking Lukashenka
<http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus-lukashenka-interview-dozhd-tv/25394678.html>In
a surprisingly candid interview with Russia's Dozhd TV, Belarusian
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka discussed topics such as the Ukrainian
crisis and Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, as well as divorce
and beautiful women.

   - Lukashenka Fells Longtime Ally, Leaving Belarus-Watchers Stumped
   <http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus-industry-sacking-lukashenka/25169454.html>
   - Don't Cry For Me, Venezuela: Chavez Musical In The Works In Belarus
   <http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus-veneuzuela-musical-chavez/25229008.html>

      By Alyaksandra Dynko and Claire Bigg

July 02, 2014

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has stunned his nation by giving
a speech...in Belarusian.

The speech, delivered to a packed audience ahead of the country's
Independence Day, was a startling departure from his longstanding habit of
belittling the language. It marks the first time in 20 years that the
iron-fisted leader formally addresses his nation in Belarusian rather than
Russian.

The move has sparked intense speculation in Belarus, with some commentators
suggesting that Lukashenka is seeking to assert his autonomy from Russia --
a close trading and diplomatic ally -- in the wake of Moscow's annexation
of Crimea from Ukraine.

The timing -- one day before Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in
Belarus to take part in celebrations marking the 70th anniversary on the
country's liberation from Nazi troops -- has certainly raised eyebrows.
 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w50kXWUxNe8&&">YouTube</a>

But Alyaksandr Fiaduta, a former spokesperson for Lukashenka, says people
shouldn't read too much into it.

"One shouldn't assume that he's turning his back on Russia," says Fiaduta,
who parted ways with Lukashenka in 1995 and is now a respected political
analyst. "He has his own course."

*Distaste*

Fiaduta actually wrote Lukashenka's first -- and until now only -- speech
in Belarusian, which the newly elected president delivered on Independence
Day in 1994.

But according to Fiaduta, the intense media scrutiny that followed had the
effect of deterring Lukashenka from using Belarusian.

"Unfortunately, after Alyaksandr Lukashenka's first speech in Belarusian,
everyone started analyzing what it meant and how he performed," he says.
"After reading all these comments, he refused to speak Belarusian again."

Since then, Lukashenka has done little to conceal his distaste for the
language.

"People who speak in Belarusian cannot do anything other than speak it,
because you can't express anything lofty in Belarusian," he said in 1994.
He went on to describe Belarusian as a "poor language" and hail Russian and
English as the two only "great languages."

The next year, in 1995, he elevated Russian to the status of a state
language, alongside Belarusian, following a controversial referendum.

Critics accuse Lukashenka of overseeing a clampdown on Belarusian language
over the past two decades, with the number of Belarusian-language schools
and publications plummeting under his rule.

Belarusian has a long history of being frowned upon as a substandard
language. In Soviet times, Belarusian was regarded as the language of
peasants, and those who sought to climb the social ladder spoke only
Russian, at least in public.

Nowadays, Belarusian is favored mostly by opposition sympathizers,
nationalists, and intellectuals.

Most other Belarusians tend to use a hybrid of both languages called
"trasianka."

Lukashenka's historical speech in Belarusian this week, although slightly
accented, has disproved rumors that he can't actually speak the language.

It has nonetheless sparked a barrage of sarcastic comments online.

Political analyst Fiaduta, however, urges Belarusians to be more lenient
with Lukashenka this time around.

"Stop joking about the president's Belarusian," Fiaduta wrote on Facebook.
"Don't scare him, or else we'll have to wait another 20 years."

http://www.rferl.org/content/shocking-belarusian-president-speaks-belarusian-lukashenka/25443432.html

-- 
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

-------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20140703/baab64c0/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list