Exploring Family Language Policy and Sociolinguistic Challenges among Repatriate Families in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Located in the heart of Eurasia, Kazakhstan has been affected by powerful migration and demographic changes for over centuries. In the early 2000s Kazakhstan started to implement ethnic immigration policies to solve demographic problems and promote nation building. As a result, more than 1,860, 000 ethnic Kazakhs known as “qandas” have moved to their historical homeland (Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Kazakhstan, 2021). Despite all the state efforts aimed at encouraging qandas to return to their ethnic homeland, issues rooted in social, economic, cultural integration and low socio-linguistic adaptation remain a significant challenge (UNDP, 2006). The study aims to explore family language policy among repatriate families and the socio-linguistic challenges they face integrating into the Kazakhstani society using Spolsky’s (2004) amended tripartite model. This is a qualitative study which uses semi-structured interviews as the main research instruments to gather data from three repatriate families from Uzbekistan, China, and Mongolia. The main findings suggest that all families prioritize Kazakh language as a symbol of national and cultural identity. The findings also illustrate that this ideological orientation was a primary motivator for repatriation, underscoring a desire to reestablish cultural belonging through language. The second priority language was found to be English due to its perceived global value, while Russian is widely rejected or deprioritized, often due to past experiences of linguistic discrimination. Such findings call for more equitable and consistent implementation of national language policies, particularly in urban areas where Russian dominance continues to marginalize Kazakh speakers.