Kazakh increasingly seen as language for integration and national unity
Most important among these policies were the deportation of "punished peoples" to Kazakhstan in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the use of Kazakhstan as a site for prison labour camps, the Virgin Lands programme of the late 1950s, and a long-standing Soviet policy of assigning workers from other regions of the USSR to careers in Kazakhstan.
Thanks to the Kazakh traditions of religious tolerance and hospitality, the land of Kazakhstan became home for many of those people, the Kazakh MFA's press service said.
Today, many of them consider Kazakh as their second mother tongue in the country where all people are allowed by law to use a language of their choice in communication, education, upbringing and arts. The state supports this free choice by creating conditions for studying and developing ethnic languages in Kazakhstan.
The following three people serve as examples of the resurgence of the Kazakh language. Maxim Rozhin, an ethnic Russian, hosts Nysana (Target), a Kazakh-language TV show on Channel Seven. Alla Platonova, an ethnic Moldovan third-year student, and Mira Libgard, also a student, whose parents are Crimean Germans, both chose to study in Kazakh.
At first sight these three have nothing in common, but one thing unites them: their deep respect for the state language and desire to contribute to its development. While listening to them, one would be amazed at the fluency with which they speak Kazakh, with the proficiency of native speakers.
By their own admission, building proficiency in Kazakh was their choice. It was one that later turned out to be a great advantage, helping them in real-life situations and even defining their life paths. For instance, Rozhin's knowledge of Kazakh has helped him to become a prominent and popular host of a Kazakh-language TV show.
Not only do these three speak Kazakh fluently, but they have also successfully picked up the customs and attitude of the Kazakh people. They say they feel close to Kazakh culture and are fully integrated in the country's society. As Platonova puts it, "In order to discover the spirit of the nation, one first needs to master its language". She grew up in a Kazakh-majority village and her parents never opposed their daughter's desire to be brought up in Kazakh traditions and supported her eagerness to study at a Kazakh-language school.
Year by year, the status of Kazakh is gradually advancing among both Kazakhs themselves and representatives of other ethnic groups. Recent trends, like an increase in the number of non-Kazakhs studying at Kazakh-language schools and universities, vividly demonstrate this changing status. According to Libgard, representatives of more than 20 ethnic groups study in Kazakh at her university, and they are actively involved in processes aimed at strengthening friendship between different nationalities, promoting the Kazakh language, and educating young people.
Libgard herself benefited from speaking Kazakh. She has won various competitions on knowledge of the Kazakh language and traditions, but one important victory stands out: the Semey Teachers' University's grant.
Undoubtedly, it is easier to prevent the use of a language than to promote it, and creating a language community is the hardest part of stabilizing a language. To elevate the status of the state language, the government carries out a balanced and coherent language policy and avoids politicizing this issue. The language policy aims to create optimal conditions for maintaining a functional balance of languages where the usage of Kazakh increases in quality and never seeks to displace Russian or any other languages.
It is widely recognised that in multiethnic societies a common language is a "common public good". The three interviewees above fully support the opinion of President Nursultan Nazarbayev that Kazakh should become a major factor uniting all the people of Kazakhstan. In their view, the Kazakh language has become a firm foundation of unity and solidarity of the people living in Kazakhstan.
"By aspiring to learn the Kazakh language, every citizen of Kazakhstan shows respect for the whole country. The issue of the status of the Kazakh language concerns all of us. Responsibility for the language's future lies with the current generation, which should take seriously the conservation and development of the language, as it is a civic duty of every Kazakh citizen", Rozhin and Platonova said in their interviews.
Provisions of the language legislation have helped Kazakh make substantial inroads. Despite the evidence of the continued use of Russian as a lingua franca, it is clear that Kazakh is used much more often in government offices today than it was fifteen years ago. And as the examples of Rozhin, Libgard and Platonova demonstrate, the language appears to have begun to serve as part of a commonality among people of various ethnic groups in Kazakhstan.
