Literature Review
In present multilingual conditions Kazakhstan needs an appropriate language policy which responds to the requirements of In 1997, Kazakhstan adopted a law on languages. Article 4 defines the status of the Kazakh language: "The official language of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the Kazakh language. Official language is the language of government, legislation, legal proceedings and paperwork, acting in all spheres of social relations throughout the state. "Article 5 defines the status of the Russian language: "In state institutions and local governments along with Kazakh Russian is used."
Nowadays Kazakhstan is the country with more than 16 million citizens from different ethnical groups who speak in 126 languages from different…show more content… Therefore it can be characterized in terms of natural bilingualism. However there is one exception Kazakhstan is the only post-soviet country where the number of Russian population prevailed the number of indigenous people. The language situation in modern Kazakhstan, led to development of new directions which prompts to the shift of the native language. Now the indigenous people of Kazakhstan interact in two languages and use the language Kazakh and Russian languages, depending on the conditions of realization of a particular communicative act. Stable Kazakh-Russian and Russian-Kazakh mass communication in the scientific literature is defined as a natural bilingualism. However it must be noted that bilingualism in our country is not just a coexistence of two languages, but more of a vital…show more content… Therefore, Kazakh is now L variety, and Russian is H variety of the language. Because there are lots of different nationalities the language that unifies all of those is Russian, in other words lingua franca. This kind of diversion of ethnics is due to historical events of the country, mainly related to the reign of Russian Empire and then functioning as the part of Soviet Republic. It can be concluded that the main factor that prompted bilingualism is the change of the ruling class first of all, in other word colonization or wars (C. Myers-Scotton, “Multiple Voices”, Blackwell). Kazakhstan fits into the definition of the term “extended bilingualism”, as there more other nationalities, apart from Kazakh and Russian, that utilize Russian language as a rational to be able to function in everyday