Belarusian Language: Current State and Perspectives
Belarusian Language: Current State and Perspectives

Summary/Abstract: Twenty years after Soviet Union’s dissolution, Belarus still remains one of the least known and most stereotypically-perceived countries of the post-soviet area. In fact, “the triadic relationship between the modern state, nation, and democracy remains undertheorized for long-established Western states, and therefore there has been a gap in the theoretical literature when scholars have investigated post communist states”. The general perception that currently exists in Central-Eastern Europe is that language is “a much more effective basis for political power than contiguity.” Language became a “legitimizing formula” for nation-building, so where there exists the decline of language, the state independence is under question (Schöpflin, 2000). Such a perception influenced significantly the image of the Belarusian language. Introduction of Russian as a second state language in 1995 and further intentions of close integration with Russia were seen as an authoritarian path based on Belarusian weak national identity, strong connections with the Russian culture and general Sovietization of Belarusian population. This article aims to show the development of Belarusian language over the last 20 years in connection with the Belarusian national identity and explain the current linguistic situation taking into account previous Soviet practices of the national policies towards Belarusians and their language.

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