Editing Belarusian language (section)

=== 1920–1930 ===

==== Soviet Belarus ====
A decree of 15 July 1924 confirmed that the Belarusian, Russian, Yiddish and Polish languages had equal status in Soviet Belarus.<ref>Gennady Estraikh: ''Soviet Yiddish. Language Planning and Linguistic Development.'' Oxford: Clarendon, 1999, p.&nbsp;37.</ref>

In the BSSR, Tarashkyevich's grammar had been officially accepted for use in state schooling after its re-publication in unchanged form, first in 1922 by [[Yazep Lyosik]] under his own name as ''Practical grammar. Part I'', then in 1923 by the Belarusian State Publishing House under the title ''Belarusian language. Grammar. Ed. I. 1923'', also by "Ya. Lyosik".

In 1925, Lyosik added two new chapters, addressing the orthography of compound words and partly modifying the orthography of assimilated words. From this point on, Belarusian grammar had been popularized and taught in the educational system in that form. The ambiguous and insufficient development of several components of Tarashkyevich's grammar was perceived to be the cause of some problems in practical usage, and this led to discontent with the grammar.

In 1924–25, Lyosik and his brother Anton Lyosik prepared and published their project of orthographic reform, proposing a number of radical changes. A fully [[phonetic orthography]] was introduced. One of the most distinctive changes brought in was the principle of [[akanye]] ({{langx|be|а́канне|links=no}}), wherein unstressed "o", pronounced in both Russian and Belarusian as {{IPA|/a/}}, is written as "а".

[[File:Miensk, Akademičmaja kanferencyja. Менск, Акадэмічная канфэрэнцыя (1926).jpg|thumb|The 1926 Belarusian Academic Conference on Reform of the Orthography and Alphabet in [[Minsk]]]]
The Belarusian Academic Conference on Reform of the Orthography and Alphabet was convened in 1926. After discussions on the project, the Conference made resolutions on some of the problems. However, the Lyosik brothers' project had not addressed all the problematic issues, so the Conference was not able to address all of those.

As the outcome of the conference, the Orthographic Commission was created to prepare the project of the actual reform. This was instigated on 1 October 1927, headed by S. Nyekrashevich, with the following principal guidelines of its work adopted:
* To consider the resolutions of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926) non-mandatory, although highly competent material.
* To simplify Tarashkyevich's grammar where it was ambiguous or difficult in use, to amend it where it was insufficiently developed (e.g., orthography of assimilated words), and to create new rules if absent (orthography of proper names and geographical names).

During its work in 1927–29, the commission had actually prepared the project for spelling reform. The resulting project had included both completely new rules and existing rules in unchanged and changed forms, some of the changes being the work of the commission itself, and others resulting from the resolutions of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926), re-approved by the commission.

Notably, the use of the ''Ь'' (soft sign) before the combinations "consonant+iotated vowel" ("softened consonants"), which had been previously denounced as highly redundant (e.g., in the proceedings of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926)), was cancelled. However, the complete resolution of the highly important issue of the orthography of unstressed ''Е'' (''IE'') was not achieved.

Both the resolutions of the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926) and the project of the Orthographic Commission (1930) caused much disagreement in the Belarusian academic environment. Several elements of the project were to be put under appeal in the "higher (political) bodies of power".

==== West Belarus ====
In [[Western Belorussia|West Belarus]], under Polish rule, the Belarusian language was at a disadvantage. Schooling in the Belarusian language was obstructed, and the printing in Belarusian experienced political oppression.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The prestige of the Belarusian language in Western Belarus during this period hinged significantly on the image of the BSSR being the "true Belarusian home".<ref>(words of V. Lastouski)</ref>{{Verify source|date=April 2011}} This image, however, was strongly disrupted by the [[Soviet repressions in Belarus|"purges" of "national-democrats" in the BSSR]] (1929–30) and by the subsequent grammar reform (1933).

Tarashkyevich's grammar was re-published five times in Western Belarus. However, the 5th edition (1929) (reprinted verbatim in Belarus in 1991 and often referred to) was the version diverging from the previously published one, which Tarashkyevich had prepared disregarding the Belarusian Academic Conference (1926) resolutions. {{harv|Тарашкевіч|1991|loc=Foreword}}