Russian language in Central Asia: current status and prospects

Abstract

The article reveals the trend of mass loss of native speakers of the Russian language in post-Soviet Central Asia. Authors analyze the policies and objective trends in those states in detail, leading to the identified problem. The authors outline the growing trends in the replacement of the Russian language in domestic processes of communication with national languages, the diminishing role of the Russian language as an interstate intermediary language in Central Asia, as well as Russia’s reaction to these processes. Central Asia now show an increasing number of students learning other foreign languages such as Chinese, English and Turkish. As a result authors are forecasting the increase of external players influence. In addition, are analyzing political and social effects that are expected to arise as a result of the diminishing role of the Russian language in the region, including future occurrence of Russian-speakers’ enclaves and an outflow of the Russian-speaking population from these countries.

Keywords

• russia
• russian language
• central asia
• kazakhstan
• uzbekistan
• kyrgyzstan
• tajikistan
• turkmenistan
• language politics
• regional policy
• soft power
• language diplomacy