Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences / Problems of Preserving the Kazakh Language in China: Threats of Extinction and Ways of Solution

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Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2025 18 (3)
Authors
Zharkynbekova, Sholpan K.; Tazhibayeva, Saule Zh.
Contact information
Zharkynbekova, Sholpan K. : L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan; ; ORCID: 0000-0002-4160-6215; Tazhibayeva, Saule Zh.: L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan; ; ORCID: 0000-0002-5655-8391
Keywords
the Kazakh language spoken in China; the standard Kazakh language; language variation; language change; language contact; language documentation; anthropological linguistics; ethno-cultural heritage
Abstract

This article examines the Kazakh language spoken in China, focusing on its unique characteristics, historical development, and challenges in the context of globalization and sociolinguistic transformations. The study highlights the preservation of archaic linguistic features among Kazakh-speakers in China while they have been lost in standard Kazakh. This exemplifies how the language evolves over time while retaining its fundamental identity. It also discusses how educational reforms have weakened the status of the Kazakh language in China, contributing to its decline in both daily communication and formal settings. The article addresses the risks of losing distinctive linguistic forms due to generational shifts, globalization, and assimilation processes. It underscores the importance of proactive measures for language documentation, revitalization and the preservation efforts as aspects of ethno-cultural identity to ensure the continuity of the Kazakh language in China for future generations. Kazakh variety spoken by repatriates from China is shown to retain some archaic grammatical and lexical elements, no longer found in modern Kazakh, which underscores the crucial need to document this linguistic and ethno-cultural heritage through the development of an electronic corpus of glossed and translated texts. Such efforts not only contribute to preserving the ethno- cultural legacy for Kazakhs in Kazakhstan and the diaspora, but also facilitate contemporary scientific research of the unique linguistics cultural diversity of Kazakhstan in the wider context of Central Asia

Pages
502–515
EDN
DOAOGQ
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/155042

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