A Study on Ethno-Linguistic Situation in Uzbekistan

우즈베키스탄의 민족-언어상황 연구

Uzbekistan, which gained its independence after the dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991, was the second most populous federal republic after Russia and Ukraine during the Soviet era. The population and proportion of indigenous people were relatively high, and more than 80% of Uzbek nationals are originated from the indigenous nation. Uzbekistan implemented language policies such as a national language regulation and elimination as well as reduction of the use of Russian language, which has been functioning as a communicative language among the people. Furthermore, the Uzbek government decided to push ahead with the exclusion of Russian language and change of writing system from Cyrillic to Latin, in order to revive the national identity. These polices were considered one of the strongest along with those of Post Soviet Baltic countries. However, the language polices by the Uzbek government were not very successful. In spite of the overwhelming majority of the population of Uzbek nationality, the fact that a large number of people based on various ethnic backgrounds still live in the region, the influx of Russian and Russian speakers since the Soviet era, the influx of Russian politics, economics, society, education systems and mass media, and finally the superior status of Russian language in everyday life make many people use Russian language actively. The social, economic and educational downturns in Uzbekistan cause a large number of people to leave their country. The Russian Federation is the first desirable place for their immigration. In addition, Uzbekistan is a multi-ethnic society including a local entity called the republic of Karakalpakstan, which occupies approximately one third of the territory of Uzbekistan. Despite the expiration of the 20-year merger treaty between Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan, the Karakalpak people currently insist on the independence, while the Uzbek government has been ignoring it. The ethnic language policy of Uzbekistan does not seem to have a big problem, but a population census that can reveal the ethnic distribution and use of language has not been implemented since the independence of Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government takes a prudent attitude toward the national language policies. Also, the transition to Latin letters, which began in May 1995, should be finalized in September 2005, but Cyrillic is still being used. Thus, Uzbekistan has been promoting the Uzbek language with the strong ethno-linguistic policies since the beginning of independence, but they do not seem to be fully successful.