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