Boosted Transition of Uzbek Language to Latin Alphabet: Consequences for the Population

Boosted Transition of Uzbek Language to Latin alphabet: Consequences for the Population The article examines the consequences of the decision made by the government of Uzbekistan in 1993 to transform the Uzbek language into Latin script, and also analyzes the recent decisions on the accelerated completion of this process. The author believes that the initial decision to reform the alphabet and the government’s recent steps run counter to the interests and rights of the majority of the Uzbek-speaking population, both its older and younger generations. The author sees a way out of this situation not in the refusal of the reform itself, but in an accelerated approach of completing the full transition to the Latin alphabet, in preparing the proper conditions for completing this transition at least in a decade. This time is necessary to achieve such fundamental tasks as the translation into the Latin alphabet of all the most valuable published in the Uzbek language during the Soviet and subsequent periods, as well as the gradual, evolutionary restructuring and development of book publishing in Uzbekistan. Follow us on LinkedIn In the past few months, the government’s activity on reforming the alphabet of the Uzbek language has noticeably revived, which began in 1993 with the adoption of a corresponding law on the transition to the Latin alphabet. In 1995, the adopted Latin alphabet was subjected to audit, but a new version was criticized afterwards. And now that updated version of the alphabet is now again planned to be revised, bringing it closer to the originally adopted version of 1993 and at the same time to the orthography of Turkish and some other Turkic languages. The new alphabet project was published on March 16, 2021, and its discussion will last until the end of the month. Prior to that, on February 11, 2021, the government approved a “roadmap timeline” for a complete transition to the Uzbek alphabet based on the Latin script. This transition is scheduled to be completed by early 2023. Boosted Transition of Uzbek Language to Latin alphabet: Consequences for the Population Draft of the new Uzbek alphabet These decisions, especially the last one, were observed to have caused confusion and widespread discontent among a large part of the population, which was especially evident in the discussions that unfolded on social networks. Representatives of not only the Russian- speaking population were dissatisfied, but also the Uzbeks themselves. For obvious reasons, dissatisfaction is expressed primarily by the older generation of the Uzbek population, who have learned using the Uzbek language in Cyrillic. However, even among the young generation, one can find irritation at the observed instability in the question of how the Uzbek alphabet should look like. Let us try to understand what the transition to the Latin alphabet gives, and especially its accelerated process, imposed by the authorities, in terms of the country’s development and Boosted Transition of Uzbek Language to Latin alphabet: Consequences for the Population nation-building in Uzbekistan. But first, let us give a little background to the question. Historical context Before the October Revolution of 1917, the population of Central Asia, whose descendants speak Uzbek today, communicated with each other in different dialects, the most common of which were Kipchak and Karluk. The language, based mainly on the Karluk dialect, was then called Sart. It was developed based on the Chagatai language, in the formation of which the Uighurs played an important role in the past. It was this dialect that, already under the Soviets, was taken as the basis of the modern Uzbek language. When writing dialects that preceded it, the Arabic script was used. Shortly after the October Revolution of 1917, a discussion arose about the reform of the alphabet. In 1921, this issue was discussed at the regional congress in Tashkent, then in 1926 at the I Turkic congress in Baku. At that Baku congress, the transition of all Turkic languages of the peoples of the USSR to the new Latin alphabet – Yanalif (Yangi Alifbe) was approved. However, the transition itself took place only in 1929. Nevertheless, just over a decade later, on May 8, 1940, against the background of the Soviets’ struggle against the influence of pan-Turkism, the III session of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR adopted a law on the translation of the Uzbek language into an alphabet using the Cyrillic writing system. Already at the time of the collapse of the USSR, in November 1991, a conference was held in Istanbul , at which representatives of the Turkic republics of the USSR and the Russian Federation supported the project of switching to the Latin alphabet, as close as possible to the Turkish one. At that time, Turkey, led by President Turgut Özal, pursued an active foreign policy aimed at rapprochement with the republics of Central Asia, Azerbaijan and the Turkic peoples of Russia and was perceived by many intellectuals and political circles as activists among these peoples and as an alternative to Moscow, which they associated with the colonial past. Turkey has also attracted many as an example of a Muslim country in which the state retains its secular character and keeps Islam under control. For the leaders of the Central Asian republics, frightened by the growth of Islamic movements, especially for Islam Karimov, the Turkish political model represented a more or less acceptable alternative to both Islamism and Moscow’s hegemony. They, these leaders of the Turkic-speaking republics, sought to intercept the slogans of national-patriotism from the national- democratic opposition and thereby ensure the legitimacy of their ruling regimes. Boosted Transition of Uzbek Language to Latin alphabet: Consequences for the Population Uzbekistan: Why Uzbek Language Has Not Become a Language of Politics and Science? It is in this historical context that the decision of the country’s leadership of September 2, 1993 “On the introduction of the Uzbek alphabet based on the Latin script” should be considered. The law provided for starting to teach children the Uzbek language at school according to the new alphabet starting in 1996 and complete the transition of the country to the Latin alphabet by 2010. Subsequently, as the sprouts of potential Islamic opposition were suppressed and relations with Turkey deteriorated, the motivation to switch to the Latin alphabet weakened. However, the course as a whole remained intact, although it was not forced by excessive administrative measures. Rather, this course turned into a sluggish process, with the constant postponement of the full transition to the Latin alphabet. Which, in principle, suited the majority of the population since it provided them with a choice of different options for using the Uzbek language. As a result, the country has developed a fairly stable coexistence of two alphabets, Latin, and Cyrillic, with different spheres of their use and different categories of users. Accordingly, the population was divided into two halves: on the one hand, the young generation of Uzbeks, who were trained in Uzbek schools and colleges in the Latin alphabet, and on the other, the older generation, which still prefers to read and write in the Cyrillic alphabet. Consequences If we take the year 2000 as a starting point, when the full-scale education of school students using the Latin alphabet supposedly began (before that, obviously, textbooks and teachers were being prepared), then it can be argued that at least 10 million people in the country received school education on Latin alphabet. This accounts for 30% of the total population or 43% of persons aged 15 to 64, that is, the socially and intellectually most active part of the population. Boosted Transition of Uzbek Language to Latin alphabet: Consequences for the Population In other words, we can assert that the most actively reading public is divided into two numerically comparable groups – the one that is taught the Uzbek language in the Latin script, and those who still use the Cyrillic alphabet. The government, when making further decisions on the alphabet, must be clearly aware of this disposition of the population, and hence the respective interests and preferences of both groups. A Delicate Balance of Language Conflict in Uzbekistan At first glance, one might get the impression that the government, by accelerating a complete transition to the Latin alphabet, infringes primarily on the interests and rights of the second group of the population reading in Cyrillic. However, what then benefits the first, younger group? What advantages did this category of the population receive in their intellectual, cultural, and personal development? If we take a closer look at this issue, we will see that they also suffered. Since, for the most part, they have lost access to the body of knowledge that is concentrated in the texts published in Cyrillic since 1940, that is, at least 50 previous years before the adoption of the 1993 law. And what was published during that period? It is known that already in 1950 in Uzbekistan it was published 908, and in 1970 – 2030 books and brochures. This is an average of 1000 new editions per year between these dates. If one extrapolates this growth trend to 1990, one will get roughly 80,000 books and brochures between 1950 and 1990. Of course, not all of this literature was published in the Uzbek language, and not all are suitable today. From this mass, one can subtract all the party ideological literature and those books on specialties that have lost their relevance. However, even if we assume that at least one-fourth of this number satisfies today’s requirements, then it will turn out to be 20 thousand titles of literature, which may be of interest to today’s and future generations.

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