Balachka

Balachka (Russian: балачка; Ukrainian: балачка) is a term used to label the dialects spoken by Cossacks living in Russia. Originally the term was applied to the dialects of Ukrainian spoken in the region around the Kuban river, however the usage of this term has recently broadened to include the Cossack dialects spoken on the Don, Terek, Ural and even those further out into Asiatic Russia and Central Asia.

The term originated from the Ukrainian term "balakaty'", which colloquially means "to talk", "to chat", and was originally used in the Russian language as a derogatory term to describe the language used by the Kuban Cossacks which differed considerably from literary Russian.

For the Don Cossacks this was due to their historical proximity to Ukraine (Little Russia), and for the Kuban Cossacks due to their descendency from the Ukrainian speaking Black Sea Cossacks. The Kuban Cossacks group have two separate dialects, one is the Black-Sea Cossack group spoken in the Taman peninsula which is similar to literary Ukrainian, the second is the Mountainous regions of the Forecaucasus, where due to historical interactions with the Circassians population a different accent and vocabulary developed.

Some linguists characterize Balachka vernacular as a dialect or group of dialects. Balachka does not appear as a separate language on any language codes. Nevertheless, some Cossacks consider it to be a separate language and at least one academic case has been made in this regard.

The most significant instance of the Cossack dialect is the Kuban-Black Sea Balachka. Originally starting as a central Ukrainian dialect used by the Black Sea Cossacks who moved to the Kuban in 1792. Over the years the language began to acquire more Russian vocabulary, coinciding with the rising literacy rates in the late 19th century. The Kuban Cossack Chorus artistic director Viktor Zakharchenko points to the local folk songs dating to early and mid-19th century., where those that originated in the Kuban would have their own unique literary flavour and differ from those in standard Russian and Ukrainian. During the 1897 Russian census the dialect was classified as Little Russian language rather than Great Russian. (See further down on the political aspects of this particular dialect).

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