Language policy, ideology and linguistic challenges in cross-regional communication: a case of Serpyn program students

This research delves into the linguistic landscape experienced by Serpyn program students, transitioning from the monoglossic language ideology of South Kazakhstan to the diverse linguistic environment of West Kazakhstan. The study highlights the linguistic challenges faced by these students, notably the lack of proficiency in the Russian language, a crucial medium of communication in their new setting. Additionally, the research explores the impact of dialectical differences encountered by the students, shedding light on the complexities of language shift in a multicultural context.

Keywords: Language shift, Language ideology, Monoglossic, Dialects, Hegemony, linguistic problems, diversity, code-mixing, code-switching

Language policy, in the general context of the linguistic aspect, is deemed to be a comprehensive policy that encourages linguistic diversity, maintains stable development of the country, and enlightens the official languages. Ideally, Language policy is used to identify how the languages are being used in the given area and investigate the value among the citizens.

In terms of the Kazakhstani linguistic landscape, the phenomena incorporate the measures of managing the languages and monitoring the changes by the local government of education. The concept of language policy in Kazakhstan focuses on the main constraint, ‘creating an optimal language space of the state’, which requires ‘ a clear definition of the functional correlation of languages , in which the state language should take its rightful place. At the current time, Kazakhstani’ young generation is eager to promote the national language creating diverse campaigns. [1]

Moreover, the demographic alteration in the economics of Kazakhstan led to the tremendous growth of popularization of L1 in the last 2 decades reducing the overall value of the Russian language in society. However, there are more than 124 languages existing in Kazakhstan that are used by 13.2 % of the whole population. The example enlightens us fact that the language situation is centered on the most of influential ones such as Kazakh and Russian. In the future, the Kazakh language is hoped to be the international language that provides national unity in the country. [2]

Many changes occurred that also contributed to the language ideology in the social and educational part of Kazakhstan. The major one is specifically for the Russian language which became less demanding under the influence of the English language. This was officially highlighted by the President of Kazakhstan who put a path towards a trinity of languages shedding light on the using English in the future prospective.

This paper argues the role of Kazakh and Russian languages among the students and investigates their language experiences while moving to another region due to educational reasons. Since the language policy possesses the specific aptitude to change in different regions of Kazakhstan, it causes unexpected obstacles in the linguistic context.

Literature review

Nowadays the Kazakh language remains stable and is titled as the state language in the southern side of Kazakhstan. It is known that the fragile impact of the national language and its seldom usage of it can be observed in the northern part where Russian is the predominant, emphasizing cities such Pavlodar and Kostanay. The influence of L1 is limited in the metropolitans such as Astana and Almaty. As Äbdäkimulı claimed through the correlation and rapprochement with other nationalities like Uzbeks, the language shift occurs in most cases so that the Uzbek language becomes regarded. [3]

Though the government did not provide any position, the Russian language became within the last decade the widespread language. It is used by the partial population in our country. From 1991, the number of ethnical Kazakhs who spoke in Russian steadily plummeted, meanwhile the volume of monolingual Russian-speaking nations remained unaltered. Such phenomena occurred even after the declaration of the Kazakh language is mandatory for Russian schools in Kazakhstan. The deviation might be observed in trilingual nations as Uzbeks or Uighurs who hold Kazakh and Russian but prefer their own national language. There is still an ideology that Russian is compulsory everywhere, and people must speak only in L2. For example, in the case of a general conversation of two individuals one of them is monolingual Russian-speaking, while another is Kazakh, in the given case the whole talk would be in Russian as a dominant language rather than ethnical. A record number of citizens of Kazakhstan consider speaking in L2 as it is more influential and prestigious in society.

There is a hidden issue of the Kazakh language being challenging to integrate into society. Everyone is aware that it is highly necessary to speak the national language in terms of having more opportunities in work and social interaction. However, there can be observed monolingual Russian speakers who possess several problems with the Kazakh language or are merely unwilling to learn it. Thus, by the cultural context of Kazakhstani society, it is abnormal or amusing when Russians or representatives of other cultures and nations try to speak and learn Kazakhs and usually encounter some judgments from Kazakh nations. They (Kazakhs) constantly emphasize the mistakes or accents the foreigners have and demotivate them. From the experience of Western countries, it is encouraged to non-local residents to speak with mistakes and bad pronunciation. Such an attitude of language support and encouragement had rather be implemented in Kazakhstan. [4]

Methodology

Aim of the Study

The aim of the research is to identify the role of matrix language and explore the specific features of national language in the southern and western regions of Kazakhstan.

The qualitative interview-based research design was used to elucidate how the role of Kazakh language changes and showcase the language shift occurring in regions. Due to that reason, the research was aimed at finding the answers to the following questions:

1. What language is predominant and are there any specific features of language policy in your region?
2. Did you know the Russian language before moving to the West and were there any obstacles related to the absence of Russian proficiency?
3. What kind of language problems and challenges did you experience during the first period in Uralsk?

Research design

In order to fully demonstrate what challenges the participants of different cities witnessed, a qualitative interview-based research design was used. According to (Cresswell,2014), such a method of interviewing allows one to analyze through the words used by the Individuals, empowering them to gain more valuable insights from individual viewpoint. Moreover, it enormously contributes to understanding the issue inside out and gathering more information about it. As a result, the qualitative interview provides more opportunities to have in-depth discussions with open-ended questions to comprehend those participants’ perceptions and opinions about the language shift and policy.

Research Site and Sampling

The study was conducted in Uralsk City located in West Kazakhstan. The participants were chosen from the M.Utemisov West Kazakhstan University. All of them were Serpyn grant owners. The study focuses on identifying mainly language issues; thus, these participants were selected since they are senior-year students of the philology faculty. The fact that participants, chosen for the interview, possessed sufficient experience in terms of residing in Uralsk almost for 4 years and getting acquainted with all linguistic features of the region. 5 individuals from Serpyn program agreed to participate in the interview. All of them were fascinated and engaged in sharing their experiences. Overall: The participants encompass: one from Kentay, Turkestan region, one from Aral city located in Kyzylorda region, one from Tulcubas which is the village in Tulcubas region, one from Kyzylorda, and last one from Zhabagaly village in southern part of Kazakhstan.

Data Collection Methods

Data collection took place in November 2023. The interview was conducted in Kazakh language since this language was convenient for fully expressing thoughts and feelings. At the beginning of the survey, they were asked to provide an overall view of their language capability before and after moving to another region. Additionally, they were also told to be more open to gaining as many detailed examples as possible to scrutinize the given problem.

Data Analysis

Several steps were taken in order to analyze the data. The collected data were categorized into several themes: Language background, Language problems they faced, and dialectical differences among regions.

Findings and discussions

This part of my research analyzes and discusses the findings from students’ answers in West Kazakhstan region.

Students’ background and perception to language shift

This chapter argues the role of L1 in students’ background and how it altered during the transition to Russian-dominant region. Russification policy covered all Kazakhstani territories and lasted for about 70 years, with the results of total occupation of inner cultural heritage and facilitated changing linguistic features and caused language shift. Furthermore, the Kazakh language became under the hegemony of the Russian language, followed by the underestimation of the Kazakh language or partial extinction of the monoglossic ideology that supported mother tongue and Kazakh language superiority. [5]

One of the students said, “In my village Aral, everyone spoke in Kazakh so am I. We were brought up in very high Kazakhstan traditions where it is obliged to speak only in Kazakh and its costumes and traditions, so it was difficult for me when I moved to Uralsk and I found out that even I was surrounded by the Russian language everywhere, especially in my university where I struggled to answer in Russian”. Moreover, they mention that they chose the Kazakh group when they entered to university, yet they were taught by Russian teachers, so it seriously affected to their grades, progress, and overall academic performance. Since they had to provide answers in Russian which they could barely speak, it also turned out to facilitate to relationship with teachers and backwardness from the groupmates. In other words, they had to learn the Russian language with English as their major that made some inconvenience. From the words of one student there was a problem with socialization which led to social and linguistic anxiety, since most social objects like shops, cafes, and many types of beauty services were held in Russian, it was sufficiently difficult to express the needs, desires, and the things you wanted to procure in L2.

Another student said, “In Kyzylorda, the Kazakh language is predominant. For example, when you get onto the bus and unconsciously speak several Russian words, you will be reprimanded by older Kazakh women”. It demonstrates the high value of the national language and its cultural perspective. Additionally, they claimed that in Kyzylorda there are a record number of nationalities such as Usbek and Uigur, and even with the diversity of such nationalities and languages, they were reported to speak in Kazakh only to showcase the respect for the place they resided. [6]

It was found out that one of the major challenges of Serpyn students is dialects. With the given linguistic diversity and the level of cultural differences, it indeed arises the issue with dialects. For instance, In Uralsk, most of the Kazakh words may not be used in speech and almost all the citizens use code-switching or code-mixing between each other, and it has become ordinary phenomenon. In contrast, in the southern part of Kazakhstan, they do not mix Kazakh and Russian and use more academic and rarer Kazakh words. According to Ferguson, 1959), Diglossia is defined as a situation in which “two varieties of a language exist side by side through the community, with each having a different role to play”. I believe this term is beyond appropriate to depict the linguistic situation happening in Southern and western parts of Kazakhstan. [7]

The main reason for the research study was to examine the challenges Serpyn students they faced and analyze the dynamics of language shift in Kazakhstan. The study shed light on the hidden linguistic problems that could occur in different regions of Kazakhstan due to the students’ experience it became evident that there is a huge gap in terms of cultural diversity in South and West, which can lead to misunderstandings, linguistic anxiety, and social inconvenience.

Based on the interview it was found that overall students had some kind of problems with the Russian language and dialects. However, it was evident in practice, that they swiftly adapted to the L2 while residing in a Russian-dominant area.

References:

1. Zhumashev, R. M. (2002). Sketches about the history of Kazakhstan culture (1917–1991). Karaganda: publishing house of Karaganda State University, 148 p.
2. Аibasova, М. K. (1997). Language politics in the Republic of Kazakhstan (1921–1990)». Аlmaty: Mir, 352 p.
3. Тishkov, V.А. (1977). Language and politicy. The USA: economics, policy, ideology, 2, 55–67
4. Gak, V. G., Domashnev, А. I., & Zhluktenko, Y. А. (1988). Interlingual relation and language policy. Capitalist states and countries of the third world. Kiev: Science idea, 253 p.
5. Abdygaliev, B. (2007). Language politics in Kazakhstan: condition and prospects. Kazakh mission. Almaty: Dike Press, 253 p.
6. Dave, B. (2007). Kazakhstan-Ethnicity, Language and Power. London: Routledge, 352 p.
7. Fierman, U. (2005). Turn of language progress in Kazakhstan. Ethnographic surveying, 6, 49–71.