| Rusyn is an East Slavic language (along | | | | Rusyn, as an official language was |
| with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian | | | | former Yugoslavia. In 1995, Rusyn was |
| to which it shares a common linguistic | | | | recognized as a minority language in |
| ancestry) that is spoken by the Rusyns. | | | | Slovakia, enjoying the status of |
| Opinions differ among linguists | | | | official language in municipalities |
| concerning whether Rusyn is a separate | | | | where more than 20% of the inhabitants |
| East Slavic language or a dialect of | | | | speak Rusyn. |
| Ukrainian. The political implications of | | | | The Rusyn language is divided as |
| the dispute add to the controversy. | | | | follows: |
| Rusyn is spoken in the Transcarpathian | | | | Hutsul is spoken in the mountainous part |
| Region of Ukraine, in northeastern | | | | of Suceava County and Maramures County |
| Slovakia, southeastern Poland (where it | | | | in Romania and the extreme southern |
| is often called lemkowski 'Lemko', from | | | | parts of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (as |
| their characteristic word lem/??? | | | | well as in parts of the Chernivtsi and |
| 'only'), and Hungary (where the people | | | | Transcarpathian Oblasts, and on the |
| and language are called Ruten). The | | | | northern slopes of the Carpathian |
| Pannonian Rusyn language in Serbia is | | | | Mountains. |
| sometimes considered part of the Rusyn | | | | Boyko is spoken on the northern side of |
| language, although some linguists | | | | the Carpathian Mountains in the Lviv and |
| consider that language to be West | | | | Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasts. It can also be |
| Slavic. In Ukraine, Rusyn is usually | | | | heard across the border in the |
| considered a dialect of Ukrainian, as it | | | | Subcarpathian Voivodship of Poland |
| is very close to the Hutsul dialect, but | | | | Lemko is spoken outside Ukraine in the |
| speakers sometimes prefer to consider | | | | Prešov Region of Slovakia along the |
| themselves distinct from Ukrainians. | | | | southern side of the Carpathian |
| Attempts to standardize the language | | | | Mountains. |
| suffer from its being divided between | | | | Dolinian Rusyn or Subcarpathian Rusyn is |
| four countries, so that in each of these | | | | spoken in the Transcarpathian Oblast. |
| countries there has been devised a | | | | Pryashiv Rusyn is the Rusyn spoken in |
| separate orthography (in each case with | | | | the Prešov (in Rusyn: Pryashiv |
| Cyrillic letters) and grammatical | | | | Pryashuv) region of Slovakia, as well as |
| standard, based on different Rusyn | | | | by some émigré communities, primarily |
| dialects. The cultural centres of | | | | in the United States of America. |
| Carpatho-Rusyn are Prešov in Slovakia, | | | | Pannonian Rusyn is spoken in |
| Uzhhorod and Mukacheve in Ukraine, | | | | northwestern Serbia and eastern Croatia. |
| Krynica and Legnica in Poland, and | | | | Also called Backa dialect, it is one of |
| Budapest in Hungary. Many very active | | | | the official languages of the Serbian |
| Rusyns also live in Canada and the USA. | | | | Autonomous Province of Vojvodina). |
| It is very difficult to count the | | | | In the introduction to the book "Slavic |
| speakers of Rusyn, but their number is | | | | languages," written in 1973, ten years |
| sometimes estimated at almost a million, | | | | before glasnost, Samuel Bernshtein |
| most of them in Ukraine and Slovakia. | | | | writes about "western Ukrainians" and |
| The first country to officially | | | | the "literary language" which they |
| recognize Rusyn, more exactly Pannonian | | | | "until recently [i.e., 1973]" had. |