Bilingual names in the Bialystok region

Abstract

In accordance with the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and Regional Language of January 6th, 2005, national and ethnic minorities may introduce, besides established geographical names in Polish, additional traditional names in the minority language for towns, physiographic objects and streets. In Podlasie, nine municipalities where the Belarusian minority accounts for more than 20% of the population may execute this right. By 2013, bilingual Polish-Belarusian place names have been introduced only in Orla municipality. This article presents the most important regulations contained in the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and Regional Language concerning the usage of minority languages the definition of national minorities. Established additional Belarusian names of places in Orla municipality are analysed linguistically and compared with the dialectal (traditional) forms of the names.