LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE IN THE UYGHUR COMMUNITY IN THE CONTEXT OF TRILINGUAL EDUCATION POLICY IN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

This study investigates Uyghur community stakeholders’ attitudes in relation to the trilingual education policy and Uyghur language maintenance in Kazakhstan. The Uyghurs form a minority group (1.4%) of 224,000 people in Kazakhstan positioned fifth out of 130 ethnic groups behind ethnic Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks and Ukrainians (Smailova, 2011, p. 10). The Uyghur language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altaic family of languages and Uyghurs, as with other minorities in Kazakhstan, are given the right to receive education in their mother tongue. However, over the last three decades, the number of Uyghur schools has sharply declined. Additionally, with the implementation since 2014 of a policy on trilingual education—that embraces teaching subjects in Kazakh, Russian, and English—Uyghur language maintenance has become even more of a challenge. This work explores various Uyghur stakeholders’ attitudes and responses towards the maintenance of the Uyghur language in the context of such an important Kazakhstani policy. The study focuses on factors that influence language maintenance in the Uyghur community including attitudes towards different languages alongside the deliberate actions of community leaders, active community members, teachers and parents. A total of 24 participants took part in this study based on an ethnographic approach. Data for this study were collected primarily through semi-structured interviews as well as participant observation and focus group discussions. Two theoretical frameworks informed this study: Kloss’ (1966) identified clear-cut and ambivalent factors that influence language maintenance and shift in migrant contexts, and Giles et al.’s (1977) Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory. It was found that the trilingual education policy views expressed by stakeholders are positive; they believe the policy will have a positive impact and will contribute to the progress of Uyghur children. On the other hand, there is also a view that this policy will affect the minority schools’ future. Moreover, this study reveals that the national identity and stakeholders’ attitudes towards all four languages are identified as factors affecting Uyghur language maintenance. The findings also suggest that the school is one of the key domains among other domains, namely, meshrep (male gathering), theater, Institute, and the newspaper, where the Uyghur language is being maintained. This study concludes that the trilingual education is a policy which might not be rejected by the Uyghur community; rather, it is seen as an important policy, which needs to be implemented appropriately though the Uyghur community. However, community stakeholders and policymakers need to pay more attention to the development of school domain as it was regarded as one of the key domains that contribute to maintenance of Uyghur language in Kazakhstan.