Dialects
Besides the literary norm, there exist two main dialects of the Belarusian language, the North-Eastern and the South-Western. In addition, there exist the transitional Middle Belarusian dialect group and the separate West Palyesian dialect group.
The North-Eastern and the South-Western dialects are separated by a hypothetical line Ashmyany–Minsk–Babruysk–Homyel, with the area of the Middle Belarusian dialect group placed on and along this line.
The North-Eastern dialect is chiefly characterized by the "soft sounding R" (мякка-эравы) and "strong akanye" (моцнае аканне), and the South-Western dialect is chiefly characterized by the "hard sounding R" (цвёрда-эравы) and "moderate akanye" (умеранае аканне).
The West Palyesian dialect group is more distinct linguistically, close to Ukrainian language in many aspects, and is separated by the conventional line Pruzhany–Ivatsevichy–Telekhany–Luninyets–Stolin.
Read more about this topic: Belarusian Language