Ideologies of language revival: Kazakh as school talk

Abstract

Aims and objectives: This paper describes the implicit ideologies that undergird a language revival context and addresses the semiotic processes through which ideological dominance is challenged. It demonstrates the role of everyday family interactions in the re-acquisition of a “native” language of one’s ethnic identity. Design/methodology/approach: The paper addresses the role of language ideology and family language practices in language revitalization. It is a mixed-methods study interpreting micro-level interactional data within the macro-level context documented by previously collected survey data. Data and analysis: The paper draws upon 15 hours of audio-recorded interactional data from one urban family of ethnic Kazakhs in which the children, who were brought up speaking Russian, are enrolled in a Kazakh-medium pre-school. This in-depth, micro-level interactional study is informed by a large-scale survey indicating that urban, Russian-speaking Kazakhs are undergoing dramatic changes in their language views, use, and proficiency. Findings: The interactional analysis revealed changes in the conceptualization of Kazakh—from the vernacular associated with low prestige and backwardness to the high prestige language of school. Examinations of codeswitching in adult–child interactions showed that re-imagining of Kazakh is accomplished through four mutually reinforcing metalanguaging practices—limiting Kazakh to pedagogic formats, constructing Kazakh as school talk, confining Kazakh to “prior text,” and the co-occurrence of a shift to Kazakh with a shift to a meta-communicative frame. Originality: These findings expand our understanding of the discursive processes through which the ideology of revival is created and sustained in day-to-day interactions in the family. The study expands the scholarship on family language policy through its contribution with data from Kazakhstan and its focus on current issues related to post-Soviet experiences. Significance: The study adds to current research in family language policy by providing empirical evidence for conceptualizing the family as a dynamic system in which language policies and identity choices are shaped by parental ideologies and by the broader social and cultural context of family life.