The Language Situation in the District of Loeŭ (Belarus’)

The article describes the language situation in the rural district of Loeŭ in Belarus, focusing on dialect use, especially in relation to other language varieties. The study of this border region, separated from the former Ripky district in Ukraine (Černihiv Oblast’) by the river Dnipro, is part of a more extensive research project. The latter includes the segment of the Polissian geo-linguistic macro-region situated between Belarus and Ukraine but not distant from the Russian Federation. Different language varieties co-exist in this border area whose use and distribution is determined by a number of related variables. The analysis and the illustration of data will be preceded by an outline of the methodological design and by a short account of the geo-linguistic context typifying the district of Loeŭ.