Language ideology and identity construction in public educational meetings

Abstract

The study explores educational meetings that have a goal of promoting the Belarusian language and providing a platform for people who want to interact in this language. These meetings are not like any traditional language courses but rather a public space for a community of people who speak Belarusian, try to speak this language, or are interested in it, to engage in discussions. Findings demonstrate how an identity of a Belarusian-speaking Belarusian is interactionally constructed and speaking Belarusian is framed in relation to identity formation and language ideology.