Tarashkevitsa

Tarashkevitsa is a phonetic transcription system for Belarusian, also known as the Tarashkevica or Lukashenka system. It was developed by Branisław Tarashkevich and officially adopted in 1929 by the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The system aimed to standardize Belarusian orthography based on its pronunciation, particularly the historical pronunciation of the 'g' sound as [ɣ] rather than the common East Slavic [ɡ]. It also incorporated specific rules for representing certain vowel and consonant sounds, distinguishing it from other Belarusian orthographies.

The Tarashkevica system gained prominence and was widely used in Belarusian publications and education during the interwar period. However, following World War II and the subsequent Sovietization of Belarus, the orthography was revised and simplified in 1959, moving closer to Russian orthography and largely discontinuing the use of the Tarashkevica system.

In the late 20th century, with the resurgence of Belarusian national identity and the push for linguistic independence, there has been a renewed interest in the Tarashkevica system. It is now often seen as a more authentic and historically accurate representation of the Belarusian language by some national-democratic circles and is used in some independent publications, cultural organizations, and online communities. The debate between the official orthography and the Tarashkevica system continues to be a topic of discussion among Belarusian linguists and the public.