Languages in Use: How Background and Context Shape Multilingual Language Preference

Abstract

This capstone project researches how multilingual speakers in Kazakhstan distribute Kazakh, Russian, and English across different communicative contexts, along with how linguistic background and educational environment shape these preferences. I argue that particular language choice in a given situation is not random and can be explained by two major factors: the household language and the language of schooling. Each of the background factors influence the language choices depending on the different situations, contexts and environments. The project is situated within research on multilingualism and translanguaging. As Kazakhstan offers a unique sociolinguistic environment where most of the young people are able to speak in 3 languages, Kazakh-Russian-English, it is an ideal setting to study how multilinguals distribute their language choices in real life. Translanguaging is especially relevant here as it sees the ability to speak in different languages not as the switching between separate languages, but as naturally blending all languages into one flexible communication style; something that Kazakhstanis do effortlessly every day. This makes Kazakhstan not just an interesting case, but a uniquely fitting one for understanding how multilingual language choice is shaped by background, history, and context. The main theoretical framework that produced a research foundation was ‘Adaptive Control Hypothesis’ proposed by Green and Abutalebi (2013). The core idea behind it is that brain’s language control system adapts to the communicative contexts the speakers are in. The present study tested whether this adaptive logic holds in a trilingual setting, and the findings suggest that it does. The primary data for this research come from an online questionnaire distributed to multilingual students and alumni of Nazarbayev University aged 18 - 25. The information about demographic background, family language, educational history, language proficiency, and situational language choice were collected. A total of 75 complete responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation in Qualtrics Stats iQ to identify patterns between language background and present-day language preferences.