Iazychie

{{short description|East-Slavic artificial literary language}}

{{see also|Rusyn language}}

Iazychie ({{langx|uk|Язичіє|translit=Yazychiie}}; {{langx|rue|Язычіє|translit=Yazŷchiie}}) was an artificial literary East Slavic language used in the 19th century and the early 20th century in Halychyna, Bukovina, and Zakarpattia in publishing, particularly by Ukrainian and Carpatho-Rusyn Russophiles (Moskvophiles).Zhovtobryukh, M.A. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160224175848/http://leksika.com.ua/15460322/ure/yazichiye Iazychie]. Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia.{{Cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul R. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/929239528 |title=With their backs to the mountains : a history of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns |date=2015 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-386-107-3 |location=Budapest |oclc=929239528}} It was an unsystematic combination of Russian with the lexical, phonetic and grammatical elements of vernacular Ukrainian and Rusyn, Church Slavonic, Ruthenian, Polish, and Old Slavic.

The term was introduced by Ukrainophiles, who used it pejoratively.Magocsi, P.R., [https://web.archive.org/web/20170103200051/http://www.carpatho-rusynacademy.org/ukrlaniazychiie.html Iazychie]. World Academy of the Carpatho-Rusyn Culture. {{in lang|uk}} Nikolay Chernyshevsky called "Iazychie" a mutilation of the language and sharply condemned it. Ivan Franko and other representatives of the contemporary territories of today's Western Ukraine's progressive intelligentsia also opposed "Iazychie". The proponents of the language themselves called it the "traditional Carpatho-Rusyn language".{{Cite Q|Q105105620|pages=210|entry=Iazŷchiie}} Russophiles saw it as a tool against Polish influence and a transition to Russian literary language, considering local dialects to be a "speech of swineherds and shepherds".Орест Субтельний, Історія України [ Orest Subtelny, History of Ukraine], Section 6.3 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070928025730/http://www.unitest.com/uahist/subtelny/s562.phtml archived])