7 Linguistic landscape of Bukhara: The ambiguous future of Tajik

Abstract

Using the concept of linguistic landscape (LL), this study illustrates and examines the language visibility of public and private signs of Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Bukhara, once the capital of the Samanid empire and one of the great trading cities along the Silk Road is the fifth largest city in Uzbekistan. It is also one of the major Tajik speaking cities in Uzbekistan. Bukhara was chosen as a research site because it offers a unique case to study LL as the city is the home to many languages, including Tajik, Uzbek, and Russian. Moreover, this study utilizes qualitative methods to investigate how privileging of Russian (during the Soviet time), Uzbek (when the language regained its power in the wake of independence), and English (as a result of globalization) is viewed by the local people, and how the prestige of these languages has endangered the Tajik language, the native language of the people of Bukhara. Finally, the study examines local people’s attitudes towards the use of Uzbek, Russian, English, and Tajik languages on public and private signs in the city. By examining LL in Bukhara, this study aims to contribute not only to the field of LL but also to the study of bilingualism.