Language Research

2. Background: Background notes

The language issue has become one of the most controversial in Kyrgyzstan during the years of independence. Since the very beginning of the history of Soviet Kyrgyzstan up until the 1960's, there were satisfactory conditions for the development of the Kyrgyz language. Notwithstanding the fact that Russian was the official language according to the Constitution of the Soviet Federation, Kyrgyz was widely used in the country. It was taught as a special course in educational institutions at all levels. Kyrgyz literature, art and history were very popular among people of all ages.

But at the beginning of 1960's, the official policy of the ruling Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan changed towards Russification. As a result the language was withdrawn from the school curriculum and from almost all universities. By the end of the 1980's there was only one Kyrgyz school left in the capital city. Russians and other non-indigenous people knew almost no Kyrgyz and the Kyrgyz people themselves lost touch with their language as well. Russian became dominant in all spheres of social life and Kyrgyz became a language of the rural areas.

At the end of Perestroika in September of 1989, the Law on State Language was adopted. The law starts with a Preamble, celebrating the historical value of the Kyrgyz language as one of the most ancient Turk languages. It goes on to condemn the official policy of the previous decades that diminished its use and acknowledges an urgent need for special measures of protection. Chapter I declares Kyrgyz the official language (or state language, the term used in the text), regarding it as a symbol of state sovereignty and nation building.

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Updated (February 2008)

TWO LANGUAGES ALONGSIDE

Kyrgyzstan is the country where Russian along with its national language (Kyrgyz) has the status of the official language. Kyrgyz is spoken by 73 percent of the population; nevertheless, the generations educated in Russian at the time of the Soviet Union, especially in urban areas, do not speak Kyrgyz entirely. It is worth mentioning that about two to three percent of ethnic Kyrgyz do not even consider Kyrgyz to be their mother tongue.

The Kyrgyz language has a long oral tradition but the alphabet they use at present dates back to 1920s. During the Soviet period, Kyrgyz was used only in rural areas and amongst certain social groups concerned about the preservation of their mother tongue.

In 1989, shortly before independence, local authorities passed the Law on the National Language of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Kyrgyzstan by which Kyrgyz gained status of the national language. However, due to insufficient means, the language law was not implied, funds were reduced and civil servants in charge dismissed.

Numerous changes in the country's government, where the political situation was in frequent upheaval, have negative impact on the language use. Several decrees were implied one after another in support of Kyrgyz but this kind of policy has only worsened tensions in the country, which is home to 80 different ethnic groups who use Russian in intercommunication. As a result, many Russian-speaking people were leaving the country; therefore, a new language law was approved in 2000 making Kyrgyz and Russian equal: the first as national and the second as official language.

The approval of the new law was a positive step for Russian speakers in Kyrgyzstan, who after 16 years of independence did not yet speak Kyrgyz for lack of a coherent linguistic policy.

Authorities wanted to promote Kyrgyz, but did not allocate the resources. For instance, while during the Soviet era more than 30 fundamental texts on the Kyrgyz language were published, almost none have been produced since the country's independence.

Tachboo Djumagulov, President of the Commission for the Development of the National Language, explains that the work accomplished since independence regarding the development of the language is unsatisfactory. But he also adds that since the 2005 revolution when President Aska Akayev was ousted, efforts to promote Kyrgyz are increasing as well as the state subsidies for the language development. According to him, the best example is television broadcasting: before 2005, there was only one Kyrgyz-language TV channel; at present five out of ten devote 60 percent of their air time to broadcasting in Kyrgyz.

Education system, which should be the base for development of the national language, must overcome several obstacles. On one hand, the number of hours with Kyrgyz as the language of instruction has increased; on the other hand, the system is missing qualified teachers. At universities, for instance, a post of vice-rector for the Kyrgyz language, who is responsible for promoting the language and encouraging staff to give courses in it, has been established.

Furthermore, new teaching methodologies for Kyrgyz have been developed; they replace the old ones, often very cumbersome and ineffective, and introduce short dialogues, games and concrete examples. However, with 3,000 copies of the course in circulation, it is very difficult to meet the needs of more than 2,100 schools (1,700 of them entirely Kyrgyz) and about forty universities across the country, which offer some courses in Kyrgyz. Besides, the state funds the publication of textbooks for schools, but not for universities. Consequently, university textbooks simply do not exist.

The situation in Kyrgyzstan brings up a question whether the measures taken to preserve their national language are useful without developing education system.

Source: The UNESCO Courier, January 2008 http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=41357&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

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