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BAN ON OFFICIAL USE OF RUSSIAN IN THE JAMBYL REGION OF SOUTHERN KAZAKHSTAN DISCONCERTS NON-KAZAK SPEAKERS
July 2006 - The deputy governor of the region of Jambyl in southern Kazakhstan, Kenesbek Demeshev, announced that Kazakh would be the only language used for local government activities, leaving the non-Kazakh community Russian-speaking, just under a third of Jambyl's population, confused and angry.
The governor's ruling brings into sharp focus a long-running debate over the Kazakh language. Although Kazakh is the “state language” and has a higher status, Russian is considered a “official” language and it is more widely used in the territory, especially for business.
Ever since independence, efforts have been made to encourage Kazakh language usage. But these have been mostly poorly-executed. As a result, the use of Kazak has diminished while the number of people who count themselves as Russian speakers has steadily grown.
It's unclear how the government will respond to the Jambyl episode, but there are signs that it wants to devote more energy to encouraging the use of Kazak - it has instructed the committee for languages, which comes under the ministry of culture, to come up with new approaches to the problem. (Source: Multiethnic Newsletter)
Related links ...
Multiethnic Newsletter from Local Government and Public Service Reform
L'aménagement linguistique dans les monde (Université de Laval) (in French)
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