NARRATIVES OF LATINIZATION OF THE KAZAKH LANGUAGE: POST-COLONIAL DISCOURSE, NATIONAL IDENTITY, AND LANGUAGE REFORM
NARRATIVES OF LATINIZATION OF THE KAZAKH LANGUAGE: POST-COLONIAL DISCOURSE, NATIONAL IDENTITY, AND LANGUAGE REFORM

Summary/Abstract: Since gaining independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has been implementing linguistic reforms to entrench the status of the Kazakh language, specifically the transition from Cyrillic to Latin script, officially initiated in 2017. Framed as part of a broader program of modernization, the reform seeks to entrench national identity and align with international standards; yet, it also precipitates complex debates on its geopolitical, socio-cultural, and linguistic dimensions. This narrative analysis examines the Latinization of the Kazakh language from a post-colonial perspective, exploring how the reform serves as both an anti-colonial critique of Soviet legacies and a post-colonial attempt to reclaim cultural sovereignty. From an analytical point of view based on qualitative content analysis, the study interprets policy documents, academic texts, elite discourses, and media reports as meaning-making texts that project the Latinization project as an icon of modernity and differentiation. The analytical approach helped reveal how Latinization is linked to identity formation, nationalist discourses championed by the elite, and geopolitical repositioning— primarily through the incorporation of diasporic kandas and distance from the Russophone world. As great as the reform is, a qualitative break from colonial discourses, it precipitates tensions around inclusivity, intergenerational access, and linguistic segregation. The shift to the Latin script in Kazakhstan is a reimagining of national identity that is both progressive and weighed down by history. There must be an even-handed approach to implementation so that modernizing ambitions can be reconciled with social solidarity.

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