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Balachka (Russsian and Ukrainian: балачка) is a Cossack dialect that is spoken in the traditional Cossack regions of Russia such as the Kuban, Stavropol and Don areas. It is a hybrid of standard Russian, with Ukrainisms and certain Circassian languages.
Balachka varies considerably from one region to the other. For example in the Mountanous regions of the Northern Caucasus, such as Karachayevo-Cherkessia and Stavropolye, contain many borrowed Circassian (mostly Adyge and Cherkess) volcabulary, and also demonstrate a strong Caucasus accents. As such local dialects are usually grouped and from there collective terms such as the Don Balachka (Донская), Kuban Balachka (Кубанская), Mountain Balachka (Горская) arise.
Formation
The earliest examples of Balachka formed during the 14th century, when the then independent Don Cossack Host was known to talk in accents significantly different from that of the standard Moscow language.
Before the 20th century, literacy rates were low. During the Russian Empire Census of 1897, certain Balachkas, such as the Kuban-Black Sea (Кубанско-Черномрская), was recorded as Little Russian dialect instead of Great Russian.
Modern Usage
It is questionable on how widespread the Balachka is, as with most dialects of Russian, the education and strict requirements of the Russian Academy of Sciences mean that local press such as TV and radio rarely use anything other than standard Russian, with a notable exception for historical films (particularly those involving Cossacks) and Folk music groups and ensembles. In such conditions, there has been a gradual erosion of authentic dialects and accents, with unique terms being slowly replaced by standard Russian ones, particularly amongst the younger generations. At the same time, the recent re-awakening of the Cossacks was often done with enthusiasm to old traditions. It is thus not surprising that many Cossacks use Balachka (or some of its elements) in their speech to punctuate their Cossack heritage and/or affiliation.
See also
- Surzhyk - the use of Russian words on a Ukrainian grammar matrix.
- Russenorsk - a pidgin language that compines elements of Russian and Norwegian
- Diglossia - a situation of parallel usage of two closely-related languages, one of which is generally used by the government and in formal texts, and the other one is usually the spoken informally
Externals Links
- Dialect map of Ukrainian language
- Dialect map of Russian language
- How Do Ukrainians communicate ?
- Surzhyk and national identity in Ukrainian nationalist language ideology (Niklas Bernsand in Berliner Osteuropa-Info, Vol. 17 - page 41 -, Freie Universität, Berlin)
