• 러시아어문학연구논집
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• 제62호
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• pp.271-298
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• 2018

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.

• 러시아어문학연구논집
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• 제64호
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• pp.191-217
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• 2019

This article aims to examine the possibility of conflicts and disputes between titular nations and ethnic minority groups in the post Soviet countries where most of the policies were designed only for the titular nations. Most of the Post-Soviet countries supported a policy that a language of the indigenous national must be used as a lingua franca. This caused the resistance of minority people in the countries. Especially, the promotion of the language status and function as an indigenous national language resulted in discrimination in the political, economic and socio-cultural areas of the ethnic minorities. In the 14 new independent countries except for the Russian Federation, the Russians became an ethnic minority. It led Russian peoples to emigrate out of the new independent country, creating a chaotic situation. In the Baltic region, Russians have descended to ethnic minorities, and the use of Russian language has also been banned. Thus there is a possibility of a conflict between the titular nations and Russians. The ethnic minorities in Moldova are also Russians, who constitute a de facto independent state, Transnistria. Another ethnic minority, the Gagauzes, compromised with the Moldovan government and formed a self-governing organization in the territory of Moldova. However, there is a possibility of a conflict between the titular nations and Gagauzes. Ethnic minorities in the Caucasus region are the Abkhazians, Ossetians of Georgia, the Russians and Azerbaijani of Armenia, and the Russians and Armenians of Azerbaijan. The status of the Russians and Russian language in Armenia and Azerbaijan remains virtually unchanged, but the Russian-speaking regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia are still likely to experience ethnic and language disputes. Minorities in Central Asia are the Karakalpaks and Tajiks in Uzbekistan, and the Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan (mostly in Osh Province) as well as the Russians and Koreans, who were Russian single language users and became ethnic minorities in the new environment.