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Belarusian LACINKA - Its Second WindAt the present time — in the beginning of the 21st century — practically all Belarusian-language, press and official texts are being printed in the Cyrillic alphabet. Yet Belarusian is one of the few Slavic languages with a tradition of TWO alphabets: Cyrillic and Roman (LACINKA). The latter has been used alongside with Cyrillic in Belarusian press in the beginning of the 20th century, until 1939 in Western Belarus. In the BSSR, the Cyrillic alphabet was used exclusively, as in line with the overall Soviet policy.Our publication switched to transliterating Belarusian Cyrillic texts by means of the American Library of Congress (LOC) method, after initially using the LACINKA alphabet. The LOC method is now being used to transliterate texts from languages officially using markedly different alphabets: Cyrillic, Oriental, Georgian, Middle-Eastern... It is not being applied at all to established European languages using the Roman alphabet (French, German, Romance languages), or those in Central and Eastern Europe who modified their versions of the Roman alphabet by adding various diacritical signs (Czech, Polish, Hungarian...). Belarusian LACINKA essentially belongs to the latter group. In the former Yugoslavia both the Roman and the Cyrillic alphabets were officially used, and the Latinized version is used for transliteration in the nominally Cyrillic Serbia. A significant breakthrough in using Belarusian LACINKA took place in 2007, starting by transliterating Belarusian geographic names into Roman alphabet. We present below excerpts from the official Instructions for Transliterating Geographic Names into Roman alphabet, discussing the reasons for this decision. In order to better acquaint our readers with LACINKA, one article in each of this year’s issues of Belarusian Review will use this method of transliteration. A table comparing the two methods will be placed alongside. National System of Transliterating Geographic NamesInto Roman Alphabet Excerpts from a document, prepared by the State Committee of the Property of the Republic of Belarus This document was submitted to the Ninth UN Conference on Standardization of Geographical names, held in New York on 21-30 August 2007. In the Republic of Belarus the Regulation on the transliteration of geographic names into Roman alphabet has been used since 2001 and is obligatory when producing catographic and other works designed for international use. The basis of the present transliteration into Roman letters was the traditional Belarusian LACINKA, which has been historically certified and was used in popular scientific and fiction periodicals of the 19th — beginning of the 20th centuries equally with Cyrillic. For example, the social-political weekly Nasha Niva (Our Field) was published in two alphabets (in 1906-1915), and so were the works of such classical Belarusian authors as Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Frantsishak Bahushevich, Vincent Dunin-Martsinkevich and others. In the course of active use LACINKA became well adapted for transmission of features, specific to the Belarusian language. In 2007 LACINKA underwent an examination by experts and was recognized to meet all requirements necessary for the National system of transliteration into Roman alphabet. Transliteration from the Belarusian Cyrillic alphabet to a Roman alphabet: • Library of Congress method (LOC) • using the Belarusian Lacinka (LACINKA) 1. Cyrillic letters Я, Е, Ё, Ю • Я — in LOC = Ya — in LACINKA = Ja, at the beginning of words or syllables, or after vowels = Ia after consonants • Е — in LOC = Ye — in LACINKA = Je, at the beginning of words or syllables, or after vowels = Ie after consonants • Ё — in LOC = Yo — in LACINKA = Jo, at the beginning of words or syllables, or after vowels = Io after consonants • Ю — in LOC = Yu — in LACINKA = Ju, at the beginning of words or syllables, or after vowels = Iu after consonants 2. Cyrillic letters Ч, Х, Ш, Ж, Ц, Ў • Ч — in LOC = CH — in LACINKA = Č • Х — in LOC = KH — in LACINKA = CH • Ш — in LOC = SH — in LACINKA =Š • Ж — in LOC = ZH — in LACINKA =Ž • Ц — in LOC = TS — in LACINKA = C • Ў — in LOC = U, W — in LACINKA =Ŭ 3. In LACINKA palatalization of consonants marked by the soft sign Ь is marked by a diacritical mark ’ added on top of the corresponding character: • СЬ — Ś • ЗЬ — Ź • ДЗЬ — DŹ • ЛЬ —Ĺ • НЬ —Ń • ЦЬ —Ć This article appeared in Belarusian Review, Vol. 22, No. 2 --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2010 Belarusian Review All rights reserved. belarusianreview@hotmailcom
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