Editing Belarusian language (section)

===1930s===

====Soviet Belarus====

In 1929–30, the Communist authorities of Soviet Belarus made a series of drastic crackdowns against the supposed "national-democratic counter-revolution" (informally "nats-dems" ({{langx|be|нац-дэмы|links=no}})). Effectively, entire generations of Socialist Belarusian national activists in the first quarter of the 20th century were wiped out of political, scientific and social existence. Only the most famous cult figures (e.g. [[Yanka Kupala]]) were spared.

However, a new power group in Belarusian science quickly formed during these power shifts, under the virtual leadership of the Head of the Philosophy Institute of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, academician {{ill|Semyon Volfson|ru|Вольфсон, Семён Яковлевич}}. The book published under his editorship, ''Science in Service of Nats-Dems' Counter-Revolution'' (1931), represented the new spirit of political life in Soviet Belarus.

====1933 reform of Belarusian grammar====
{{further|Belarusian orthography reform of 1933}}

The Reform of Belarusian Grammar (1933) had been brought out quite unexpectedly, supposedly [Stank 1936], with the project published in the central newspaper of the Belarusian Communist Party (''[[Zviazda]])'' on 1933-06-28 and the decree of the Council of People's Commissars (Council of Ministers) of BSSR issued on 1933-08-28, to gain the status of law on 1933-09-16.

There had been some post-facto speculations, too, that the 1930 project of the reform (as prepared by people who were no longer seen as politically "clean"), had been given for the "purification" to the "nats-dems" competition in the Academy of Sciences, which would explain the "block" nature of the differences between the 1930 and 1933 versions. Peculiarly, [[Jan Stankievič]] in his notable critique of the reform [Stank 1936] failed to mention the 1930 project, dating the reform project to 1932.
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The reform resulted in the grammar officially used, with further amendments, in [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]] and modern [[Belarus]]. Sometimes this grammar is called the ''official'' grammar of the Belarusian language, to distinguish it from the ''pre-reform'' grammar, known as the ''classic'' grammar or [[Taraškievica]]. It is also known as ''[[narkamaŭka]]'', after the word ''narkamat'', a Belarusian abbreviation for [[People's Commissariat]] (ministry). The latter term bears a derogatory connotation.

The officially announced causes for the reform were:
* The pre-1933 grammar was maintaining artificial barriers between the Russian and Belarusian languages.
* The reform was to cancel the influences of the Polonisation corrupting the Belarusian language.
* The reform was to remove the [[archaism]]s, [[neologism]]s and vulgarisms supposedly introduced by the "national-democrats".
* The reform was to simplify the grammar of the Belarusian language.

The reform had been accompanied by a fervent press campaign directed against the "nats-dems not yet giving up."

The decree had been named ''On Changing and Simplifying Belarusian Spelling'' ({{lang|be|«Аб зменах і спрашчэнні беларускага правапісу»}}), but the bulk of the changes had been introduced into the grammar. [[Jan Stankievič]], in his critique of the reform talked about 25 changes, with one of them being strictly orthographical and 24 relating to both orthography and grammar. [Stank 1936]

Many of the changes in the orthography proper ("stronger principle of AH-ing," "no redundant soft sign," "uniform ''nye'' and ''byez''") were, in fact, simply implementations of earlier proposals made by people who had subsequently suffered political suppression (e.g., Yazep Lyosik, Lastowski, Nyekrashevich, 1930 project).<ref name="BAC">{{Cite book |title=Пасяджэньні Беларускае Акадэмічнае Конфэрэнцыі па рэформе правапісу і азбукі |year=1927 |place=Мн.: [б. м.] |chapter=Да рэформы беларускага правапісу}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Ян Станкевіч. Б. Тарашкевіч |title=Ян Станкевіч. Збор твораў у двух тамах. Т. 1. |publisher=Энцыклапедыкс |year=2002 |isbn=985-6599-46-6 |place=Мн. |chapter=Беларуская граматыка для школ. Выданьне пятае пераробленае і пашыранае. Вільня. 1929 г., бал. 132 + IV [1930–1931]}}</ref> [Padluzhny 2004]

The morphological principle in the orthography had been strengthened, which also had been proposed in 1920s.<ref name="BAC" />

The "removal of the influences of the Polonisation" had been represented, effectively, by the:
* Reducing the use of the "consonant+non-iotated vowel" in assimilated Latinisms in favour of "consonant+iotated vowel," leaving only Д, Т, Р ''unexceptionally'' "hard."
* Changing the method of representing the sound "L" in Latinisms to another variant of the Belarusian sound Л (of 4 variants existing), rendered with succeeding non-iotated vowels instead of iotated.
* Introducing the new preferences of use of the letters Ф over Т for ''theta'', and В over Б for ''beta'', in Hellenisms. [Stank 1936]

The "removing of the artificial barriers between the Russian and Belarusian languages" (virtually the often-quoted "[[Russification of Belarus|Russification of the Belarusian language]]", which may well happen to be a term coined by Yan Stankyevich) had, according to Stankyevich, moved the normative Belarusian morphology and syntax closer to their Russian counterparts, often removing from use the indigenous features of the Belarusian language. [Stank 1936]

Stankyevich also observed that some components of the reform had moved the Belarusian grammar closer to the grammars of other Slavonic languages, which would hardly be its goal. [Stank 1936]

====West Belarus====
In [[Western Belorussia|West Belarus]], there had been some voices raised against the reform, chiefly by the non-Communist/non-socialist wing of the Belarusian national scene. Yan Stankyevich was named to the Belarusian Scientific Society, Belarusian National Committee and Society of the Friends of Belarusian Linguistics at Wilno University. Certain political and scientific groups and figures went on using the pre-reform orthography and grammar, however, thus multiplying and differing versions.

However, the reformed grammar and orthography had been used, too, for example during the process of [[Siarhei Prytytski]] in 1936.