Rusyn language
| Rusyn | |
|---|---|
| русиньскый язык; руски язик rusîn'skyj jazyk; ruski jazik | |
| Ethnicity | Rusyns |
Native speakers | 70,000 (2001–2013) Slovakia – 38,679 Serbia – 15,626 Poland – 10,000 Ukraine – 6,725 Croatia – 2,337 Hungary – 1,113 Czech Republic – 777 |
Early forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Cyrillic script (Rusyn alphabets) Latin script (Slovakia) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Serbia (in Vojvodina) |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | rue |
| Glottolog | rusy1239 |
| Linguasphere | 53-AAA-ec < 53-AAA-e (varieties: 53-AAA-eca to 53-AAA-ecc) |
Rusyn is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Rusyn (/ˈruːsɪn/ ROO-sin; Carpathian Rusyn: русиньскый язык, romanized: rusîn'skyj jazyk; Pannonian Rusyn: руски язик, romanized: ruski jazik) is an East Slavic language spoken by Rusyns in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, and written in the Cyrillic script. The majority of speakers live in Carpathian Ruthenia, which includes Transcarpathia and parts of eastern Slovakia and south-eastern Poland. There is also a sizeable Pannonian Rusyn linguistic island in Vojvodina, Serbia, and a Rusyn diaspora worldwide. Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, it is recognized as a protected minority language by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Poland (as Lemko), Serbia, and Slovakia.
The categorization of Rusyn as a language or dialect is a source of controversy. Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian, as well as American and some Polish and Serbian linguists treat it as a distinct language (with its own ISO 639-3 code), whereas other scholars (in Ukraine, Poland, Serbia, and Romania) treat it as a dialect of Ukrainian.