Rheme catchers, aka word whisperers, Zhenya and Uladzik (Uladzislau Harbacki – a sociolinguist and gender researcher) head into the forest of language to hunt for fading, half-forgotten and newly coined Belarusian words. Unlike a dreamcatcher, our audio dictionary on Belarus FM collects Vitebsk regionalisms, feminatives, words from old books and coinages in active use. We explore where these words came from, how they have changed, where they still survive and whether they can return to active use. There is no final word here: listeners can also share expressions they have heard or used. Together, we will study and preserve words while there is still time to catch them.
