Paper Titles & Abstracts

The issue of Belarusian language policy can be analyzed in two different dimensions - as an element of nation-building strategy in post-Soviet Belarus, and as a part of linguistic human rights discourse, which refers both to legal, moral as well as to emotional aspects of current Belarusian language legislation and practice. These two aspects of the Belarusian language issue became closely interrelated and often perceived as mutually dependent. The paper explores the social and political context of the Belarusian national development, which resulted in establishing of specific linguistic formulae of the Belarusian identity. Coexistence of different approaches to the national language politics on the Belarusian political arena has led to extreme politicization of language issue. The language politics in Belarus is considered as a means to control not only the use of language, but also the public discourse and the public fate of the national project based on the certain vision of linguistic identity of Belarusians. The major paradox of the Belarusian language situation is related to the fact, that Belarusian, as an official state language, although, the minority language in practice, cannot be protected by any international legislation, like the European Charter for Regional and Minority Language. Linguistic rights of Belarussophones being attributed to the national project, which failed to become the basis for state nation-building strategy, appear to be an inseparable victim of this political failure.