The ontology of the formation of state bilingualism in the Republic of Belarus by the end of the 20th century

The work is devoted to the description of the language situation in the Republic of Belarus. The author studies the status and functions of the Belarusian language in the lands that were historically part of several states and are currently Belarusian territory. The aim of the work is to establish the factors that determined the return to state bilingualism following a short period of using the Belarusian language as the only state language. The study is based on the analysis of published documents devoted to the description of the language situation, as well as the language policy pursued in the Republic of Belarus, starting from the 9th to the 20th centuries. The study is of a review nature. The following should be recognized as the main factors underlying the modern language situation in the country: a long time of the Belarusian language being in a diglossal distribution with more functionally developed languages; close relationship of the Russian and Belarusian languages; stigmatization of a mixed version of these languages; the inclusion of the territory of modern Belarus into the Russian Empire and the USSR; a more prestigious status for the Russian language in the world; the functioning of the Belarusian language as a symbol of ethnic identification of Belarusians, but not as a means of communication.