Abstract
In the 90s, language planning in Kazakhstan was hindered because people of other ethnic groups outnumbered Kazakhs. Russian has long been designated as the language of inter-ethnic communication and its status is officially on a par with the state language, Kazakh. The leadership in Kazakhstan avoided taking 'extreme' positions as the stability in the country was at stake, so in order to preserve political stability in the country, the language shift towards Kazakh was delayed. Now in modern Kazakhstan, the number of ethnic Kazakhs has increased which has resulted in positive, albeit slight changes in favour of the Kazakh language. The primary purpose of this review article is to understand the reasons for the slow dynamics of language shift in Kazakhstan. Analysis of the literature and theoretical frameworks by Ruiz and Sonntag and Cardinal sheds light on the dynamics of this shift. One of the contributing factors to its slow dynamics has been the government’s support for the bilingual later multilingual language regime. Language planning in Kazakhstan implicitly promotes economic planning. Russian, and more recently English have been favoured as more suitable for human development in Kazakhstan. Another factor associated with the slow dynamics of the language shift is a language's prestige and value. Kazakh is not associated with social success and as such, it remains less prestigious compared to Russian. Based on the evidence, this paper concludes that Kazakhstan is still linguistically dependent on the past state traditions despite being politically independent today. Russian, seen as a language of international communication, in truth, remains intra-national in Kazakhstan.
Highlights
1 Kazakhstan has chosen the path of the ex-colonial countries in terms of language planning
More recently English have been favoured as more suitable for human development in Kazakhstan. Another factor associated with the slow dynamics of the language shift is a language's prestige and value
By means of analysing research papers which review the evolutionary process of language planning in Kazakhstan since independence, this paper aims to find out the reasons for the slow dynamics of language shift in Kazakhstan
Summary
The Kazakh language, especially in the 90s, was regarded as largely symbolic. The majority approved delaying the moves to make Kazakh the primary language but it was not clear how long this would last. The first constitution adopted in 1993, outlined the role of Kazakh, making it the official state language with Russian the language of inter-ethnic communication This decision obliged nonnative- speaker citizens of Kazakhstan to learn and speak Kazakh (Kulzhanova, 2012). 3.2 Corpus Planning Due to Russian being the dominant language in both the spoken and written communication of Kazakhstanis, until the 90s Kazakh was not widely represented in technology, science, economy official documentation and entertainment, and merely fulfilled the role of the language of art and culture (Schatz, as cited in Matuszkiewicz, 2010) After independence, this problem led Kazakhstani linguists to revise the corpus of Kazakh language meaning that along with status planning, corpus planning has been paralleled in language planning in Kazakhstan. Kazakh is not widely associated with social success and the decision behind the parents who select Kazakh medium instruction is tied merely to national patriotism
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
