Balachka

Balachka (Russian: бала́чка, romanized: baláčka; Ukrainian: бала́чка, romanized: baláčka) is the traditional variety spoken by the Kuban Cossacks. It is spoken in the Kuban region of southern Russia, particularly in present-day Krasnodar Krai. It developed among the Black Sea Cossacks who were resettled to the region in the late 18th century from territories of the former Zaporizhian Sich. Balachka is an East Slavic language spoken in southern Russia which has significant Ukrainian influence. Its phonetics, vocabulary and certain grammatical features reflect a mixture of southern Russian dialectal forms and elements associated with central and eastern Ukrainian speech. Historically, Balachka functioned as the everyday spoken language of Kuban Cossack stanitsas. It was used for day to day communications, oral traditions, folk songs, proverbs and local storytelling. In the 20th century, De-Cossackization and Soviet language policy led to the predominance of Standard Russian language in education, administration and media. As a result, Balachka declined in everyday usage although it still remains in use in rural areas and in the preservation of Kuban Cossack cultural heritage.