Language vitality and paths to revival: contrasting cases of Azerbaijani and Kazakh

• Autores: William Fierman
• Localización: International journal of the sociology of language, ISSN 0165-2516, Nº. 198, 2009, págs. 75-104
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Russian Imperial and subsequent Soviet policies resulted in the Russian language acquiring a very important role in education and the workplace in both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The extent of the penetration of the Russian language was shaped by the unique constellation of factors for each republic, including geographic, historical, demographic, and political moments. Even in the Soviet era, however, the titular language maintained a much larger domain of use in Azerbaijan's cities than it did in cities of Kazakhstan. Since 1991, the status of the titular language in both countries has risen and its domains broadened, though only in Azerbaijan does the titular language clearly enjoy a status superior to Russian in urban educational institutions and in the workplace. The difference in the situations in the two countries is due both to the inertia of factors already in place during the Soviet era, as well as to changing environment in the respective countries since their independence, including policies of their leadership.