THE SYMBOLIC AND COMMUNICATIVE DIMENSIONS OF THE LINGUISTIC PRACTICES OF THE BELARUSIAN POLES
THE SYMBOLIC AND COMMUNICATIVE DIMENSIONS OF THE LINGUISTIC PRACTICES OF THE BELARUSIAN POLES

Summary/Abstract: Language is traditionally considered as a basic reality connected with such terms as ethnos, ethnicity and nationality. The role and functions of language in forming and determining ethnicity vary a lot in different research traditions and schools. For primordialists, it is a natural basis for the forma¬tion of an ethnos, i.e. an “objective” and “natural” characteristic of its bearers. For constructivists, language is an “ethnic marker”. In the instrumentalist school, it is viewed as one of the main ethnicity translating channels and so on. But approaches notwithstanding, language is recognized as a major ethnos founding factor and a basis of ethnic identity which also performs a number of realizational functions and axiological connotations.

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