Language politics – and the politics of language – are a hot topic across much of Central Asia. Stemming largely from the 70-year Soviet era, Russian remains a veritable lingua franca across the Central Asian region, including in Kyrgyzstan. In recent years, however, there has been a surge in attention to the role and development of Central Asia’s local languages, and heated debates about the role of Russian (and Russia) in Central Asian societies.
But those debates, often argued in absolutist terms, fail to wrestle with the nuanced reality of Central Asian’s multilingualism.
“From my perspective, multilingualism is not a problem to be solved but a valuable resource,” Dr. Mahabat Sadyrbek – a political scientist, legal anthropologist, linguist, and interpreter – told The Diplomat in an interview.
“The challenge is to ensure that Kyrgyz continues to develop while preserving the cultural, educational and international advantages that multilingualism offers.”
Sadyrbek is the author of two Kyrgyz grammar reference books, in German and English. These texts are the first of their kind, and as she explained, were created out of necessity: “A language needs more than native speakers to flourish.”
