Dynamics of the language situation in Belarus and the Belarusian language in the world in the context of the “one belt and one way” initiative

Abstract

This paper focuses on the impact of globalization on dynamics of language situations and national language functions in today’s world. The results obtained propose that the definition of modern language situation in the Republic of Belarus should be expanded as endogenous/exogenous closely related state Belarusian-Russian bilingualism (balanced in legal terms and unbalanced, unequal in functional and communicative terms), complicated by the languages of national minorities and national diasporas, and significant expansion of the presence of world languages in the Belarusian national language space. This paper shows the characteristics of language situation in Belarus and the status of Belarusian in the general Slavic background. Taking the language situation of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian language as an example, this paper illustrates the impact of the largest international megaproject “one belt and one way” on the dynamics of the language situations, connecting the national languages of Belarus and China into the world language space.