Language Policy in the Soviet Union

Chapter 6: Central Asia

Overview of Central Asia

• Central Asia = Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan; all are Muslim, and all except Tajikistan are Turkic; part of Russian empire since late 19th c

• Lots of reshuffling of borders in Soviet period• Soviets very concerned over high birth rate –

Central Asian population growth was over three times higher than elsewhere

Overview of Central Asia, cont’d.

• Turkic language-dialect continuum runs across the region, with all contiguous peoples able to communicate with each other, no firm linguistic boundaries

• Only exception is Tajiki, which is I-E, which has 3.3M in Tajikistan, .9M in Uzbekistan

Overview of Central Asia, cont’d.

• Uzbek (politically defined) has 16.5M in Uzbekistan, .8M in Tajikistan, .5M in Kyrgyzstan

• Minority groups speak local varieties of Arabic, Farsi and indigenous languages, most of which lack a written form

• 1926 switch from Arabic to Latin script

Overview of Central Asia, cont’d.

• Language and identity were deliberately manipulated by Soviets, who tried to invent “separate” languages and identities and thus reduce the opportunity for a pan-Turkic identity to arise

• Creation of Central Asian “identities” was successful; creation of Soviet-Russian identity was less successful – population is large and has a strong Muslim identity that resisted Soviet dogma

• Language retention rates are very high, over 97%; knowledge of Russian as a second language is low, at about 25-30% except in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, where it is 50%

Overview of Central Asia, cont’d.

• Although they are primarily associated with the Tatar ASSR within Russia (technically North of Central Asia, but not in it), Tatars are a Turkic people and very influential in the area, and there are .3M Tatars in the Central Asian republics

• Tatars tended to be leaders and education specialists, but they promoted pan-Turkism, and opposed change from Arabic to Latin script and were viewed with suspicion by Moscow

The Influence of Islam

• Region is primarily Turkic and Muslim, but there are Turkic people who are not Muslims and Muslims who are not Turkic

• Initially anti-religious > atheistic• Soviet policies had little impact on strong Muslim

identity• Shift from Arabic script was designed to cut

people off from religious literature, language was manipulated in order to divide people, create geolinguistic (instead of religious) identities

Turkestan

• Part of Russia since 19th c, initially one large Republic, 1924 broken into Uzbek and Turkmen republics

• Despite Bolshevik claims to defend indigenous peoples, Muslim Central Asians were excluded from decision-making processes from the start

• Early Soviets blamed extremely low literacy rates for preventing inclusion of Central Asians in administration

Turkestan, cont’d.

• 1923 mandate to make use of Turkic exclusive and universal proved to be unfeasible and in 1924 all documents were mandated to be written in Russian

• Turkestan completely lacked an educational infrastructure: books, teachers, schools

• 1924 only 4% of indigenous children were enrolled in school

Turkestan, cont’d.

• 1924 regrouping broke Turkestan into:– Uzbek SSR

• Containing the Tajik ASSR in its boundaries

– Turkmen SSR

• Also created within Russia– Kyrgyz ASSR (later > SSR)– Karakalpak ASSR– Kazakh ASSR (later > SSR)

The Uzbek SSR

• Uzbek nation and identity are a Soviet invention; before 1920 Uzbek was not considered a distinct language, but rather a Turkic dialect, closely related to Uyghur & Kazakh

• Until 1924, written language was Chagatai (also Turkic); Soviets declared Uzbek the direct descendant of Chagatai and refer to Chagatai as “Old Uzbek”

• Literacy rate 3.8% in 1928

The Uzbek SSR, cont’d.

• Uzbek and Tajiki, despite lack of genetic similarity, have had profound effects on each other

• Some Soviet planners initially promoted the adoption of a pan-Turkic language, but when the Uzbek SSR was created, basically “Uzbek” was the term for all Turkic varieties within its borders

The Uzbek SSR, cont’d.

• Non-standardized use of Arabic script for writing since 9th c

• 1921 several reforms of use of Arabic to better represent Uzbek (especially vowels and vowel harmony)

• 1926 Latin alphabet introduced to reduce influence of religion and speed literacy

The Uzbek SSR, cont’d.

• Orthography was introduced without first codifying the language, and dialectal differences created chaos

• Effort to get children into schools was enormous, but still many dropped out after 2nd grade

• Large commitment to publishing textbooks

The Uzbek SSR, cont’d.

• Uzbeks were slow to enroll in higher education; numbers of indigenous students at Central Asian State University: 3.5% in 1927-28, 19% in 1928-29, 26% 1929-30, but dropout rates were high, and indigenous students were often ill-prepared

• 1934 Soviets began backing away from nativization, began recruiting more non-indigenous (Russian) employees for administration, and number of posts occupied by Uzbeks declined; emphasis on Russian language

The Uzbek SSR, cont’d.

• Late 1930s Russian made compulsory for all schoolchildren, despite fact that necessary materials and teachers did not exist

• However support for Uzbek in elementary education remained quite strong, partly because the most effective medium for education was the native tongue

The Uzbek SSR, cont’d.

• 1940 shift to Cyrillic script and elimination of spelling of vowel harmony, which was not used by urban speakers, and which made it possible to accept Russian borrowings as is.

• Russification stepped up in post-Stalin era• Rapid growth of Uzbek population reduced

effects of Russification; in 1989 98.3% claimed Uzbek as mother tongue, and only .07% claimed Russian

Central Asia prior to WWII

• Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen all closely related Turkic languages

• 1991 Kazakh speakers:– 6.5M Kazakhstan, 37K Kyrgyzstan, 88K

Turkmenistan, 808K Uzbekistan– Karakalpak (disputed as a dialect of Kazakh):

400K Uzbekistan and some in Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan

The Kazakh SSR in the Early Years

• Chagatai was the early literary language

• 19th c efforts to create Kazakh literary language produced two opposing views:– Intellectuals advocated use of Tatar; Tatar

schools promoted Islam– Secular elite and Russian authorities

advocated development of Kazakh; Russian schools trained Kazakhs for govt service

The Kazakh SSR in the Early Years, cont’d.

• 1876 Kazakh-language (Cyrillic) schools established by Ministry of Education

• 1892 Tatars banned from teaching in schools

• Northern dialect chosen as standard; less Farsi influence and more Russian influence

• Literacy: 1919 2%, 1926 22.5%, 12% of children enrolled in school

The Kazakh SSR in the Early Years, cont’d.

• 1927 switch from Arabic to Latin script -- this made all previous literature inaccessible to newly literate population and disrupted historical continuity, political identity -- this was interpreted as “anti-Soviet”

• 1940 switch to Cyrillic, with some modification in 1952

The Kazakh SSR in the Early Years, cont’d.

• Civil unrest begins in 1986 in response to appointment of ethnic Russian to be 1st Secy of Kazakhstan CCCP, and to Russification

• 1989 Kazakh declared official language, big push to appoint Kazakhs to govt posts, Russian-speaking population complains of lack of access to Kazakh language instruction

The Development of Tajiki and the Tajik SSR

• Tajiki is the only I-E language among titular languages of Central Asia, related to Farsi, Tat (Azerbaijan); some consider it a dialect of the Farsi spoken in Iran and Afghanistan, but Tajiki has more Turkic influence

• 9th c literary language founded, but did not become widespread, Classical Persian used instead

• 1926 <3% literacy rate

The Development of Tajiki and the Tajik SSR, cont’d.

• Busy history:– Early 19th c semi-independent state with

Uzbekistan– Annexed by Russian Empire– 1918 part of Turkmen SSR– 1929 Tajik SSR established and Tajik became

its official language

The Development of Tajiki and the Tajik SSR, cont’d.

• 1920s & 30s standardization of language & orthography, based on NW dialects near Samarkand & Bukhara

• 1927 Arabic > Latin; 1940 Latin > Cyrillic• Likbez (likvidacija bezgramotnosti) schools

established to raise literacy and train workers -- quite successful

• 1979-89 highest growth rate in USSR 43% (national average 9.3%, next highest was Uzbekistan 29%)

The Development of Tajiki and the Tajik SSR, cont’d.

• Russian was absolutely necessary for govt posts and was the primary language of education

• 1989 Tajik Supreme Soviet passed a language resolution similar to that in Estonia and renamed the language: Tajiki (Farsi)

The Kyrgyz SSR and the Turkmen SSR

• For both languages, 1926 Arabic > Latin, 1938 Latin > Cyrillic

• Turkmen SSR – 1928 govt campaign to eliminate Islam,

compulsory education replaces religious schools

– 1930-35 intelligentsia criticizes Soviet regime, demands return to Chagatai or Anatolian Turkish as literary language

The Kyrgyz SSR and the Turkmen SSR, cont’d.

• Turkmen SSR– One of the most rural and poor Republics– Tribal identity remained stronger than national

identity

• Kyrgyz SSR– 1924 Autonomous Region > 1926 ASSR >

1936 SSR– Kyrgyz language and ethnic identity is real,

not a Soviet invention, epic literary works exist

The Success of Literacy

• Great progress was made, though it is hard to judge because of Soviet exaggerations of statistics, basically it went from single digits to over 50% by 1939 throughout Central Asia

• Urban areas did better than rural ones, males better than females, younger people better than older

• Tajik SSR makes the biggest gains, going from lowest to second highest in region

Central Asia after Stalin

• Russification mostly failed in Uzbekistan but was successful in Kazakhstan; Kazakhs have lowest language retention rate in Central Asia; similar situation in Kyrgyzstan

• 1989 Fluency in Russian as a second language: Kazakh 60%, Kyrgyz 35%, Tajik 28%, Turkmen 28%, Uzbek 24% -- this represents a decrease from 1979 levels everywhere but in Kazakhstan

Language Reform

• Like Baltics, the Central Asian states were concerned about Russian encroachments and enacted language laws in 1989-90, though Turkmen, Kazakh, and Tajik make provisions for support of Russian too; but all state employees are required to speak the titular language