LL-L "Ethnicity" 2005.09.27 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 27.SEP.2005 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Philip Ernest Barber <pbarber at loc.gov>
Subject: LL-L "Ethnicity" 2005.09.24 (09) [E]

The people are Rusyns. They are from both sides of the Carpathians, mostly 
south.  They speak a Western Ukrainian dialect.  In Europe most are 
now(after a Soviet annexation from Czechoslovakia in 1945)  in the 
Transcarpathian oblast of Ukraine.  Those in America came mainly to the 
Pennsylvania coal and steel towns beginning in the 1880's and up to WW I.

 Many are Ruthenian-rite Catholics indeed, but at least as many are members 
of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church, which seceded from the Ruthenian 
group and entered into communion with Orthodoxy under the Ecumenical 
Patriarch of Constantinople so that they could return to the religion of 
their forefathers and retain a married priesthood.  Many others joined what 
was the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America and is now 
known as the Orthodox Church in America.

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Ethnicity

Hi, Philip!  Great to hear from you again.

Even if it can be argued, on linguistic grounds, that Rusyn is a West 
Ukrainian dialect group, Rusyns themselves overwhelmingly do not share this 
view and have always refused to be classified as Ukrainians.  Their struggle 
continues in Ukraine and Poland where they are still considered Ukrainians, 
but in Slovakia they now have official recognition as a separate ethnicity 
and of Rusyn as a language in its own right, in conformance with the wishes 
of Rusyns everywhere, including large Rusyn communities in the Americas 
(besides smaller ones in Australia) that have always considered themselves 
separate from, though related to, Ukrainians.  Their language has its own 
Cyrillic-based orthography, unique despite using Ukrainian devices.

Belarusan, Kashubian, German and Ukrainian are recognized as regional 
languages of Poland, and some regional services are offered in them, but 
only Polish has national currency.  There *is* a Ukrainian minority. Lemko 
Rusyns and their language have been lumped in with it, much to the chagrin 
of the Lemkos and other Rusyns everywhere.

Of course, this threatens to take us back to the old, tired question of what 
is a dialect and what is a language.  These days, the consensus is that if 
the speaker community considers its varieties as a language and acts 
accordingly, then there ought to be general and official language 
recognition.

Getting back to the Lowlands, I wonder if within the German minority of 
Poland there are still some Low Saxon speakers.  Does anyone know?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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