Russian language in central Asia

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The Russian Language and it’s influence on Central Asian culture

 Central Asia this land of desert, steppes, valleys, and mountains is populated primarily by people of Turkic ethnicity, such as the Kazakhs, the Kirghiz, the Turkmen, and the Uzbeks. The other major group in the area, the Tajiks, are of Iranian stock. Over the past several millennia, the Silk Road has brought many traders to Central Asia and the area’s location on the vast interior Eurasian steppe has been a continual invitation to empire-seeking armies. As a result, the native culture has been influenced by the infusion of a number of foreign elements, introduced by groups such as the Turks, the Arabs, and the Mongols. Perhaps the best example of this is the role that Islam, brought by the Arab armies in the eighth century, has played in shaping the whole Central Asian ethos. Indeed, cities such as Bukhara and Khiva, now located in Uzbekistan, were major centers of Islamic scholarship at the height of the Muslim Empire, in the ninth and tenth centuries. The last foreigners to arrive on the Central Asia scene are Russians. Russian has influenced on Central Asian language, culture and literature.

 1. Central Asia

Central Asia include five republics of the former Soviet Union: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for a total population of 64.7 million people. Before the region was conquered by the Russian empire, Central Asian society was entirely a part of the Muslim world, the local culture developed under the strong influence of Islam, and Muslim views on aesthetics and ethics. It experienced Arabian, Iranian, Ottoman and other influences. The degree of this influence differed among different region and groups, and in many place, especially among the rural, mountain and nomadic population, local forms of cultural production were preserved, which sometimes differed considerably from pan-Islamic models.

2. Central Asian languages

Most of the indigenous languages of Central Asia, with the notable exception of Tajik, are Turkic languages and hence completely unrelated to Russian (Tajik and Russian, however, are both members of the Indo-European language family). All these languages have been influenced to one degree or another by Arabic and Persian as a result of over a millennium of contact with the Islamic religion (for instance, over 65% of Uzbek vocabulary is of Arabic or Persian origin). Prior to Soviet rule, religious affairs were conducted primarily in Arabic, and court life was strongly influenced by Persian. Both languages, with the addition of Chagatay (classical Turkic and the forerunner of modern Uzbek) were utilized in the domains of literature and education. However, the vast majority of people spoke a wide variety of Turkic dialects which (since the Turkic languages are so similar to each other) formed a gradual linguistic continuum from the Kazakhs in the north to the Turkmen in the south. There were no abrupt linguistic boundaries between the groups, especially in areas where several mixed together.

Although the general level of literacy in Central Asia had not risen above 5 per cent prior to the influence of the Soviets, there was nonetheless a long tradition of writing that can be traced back at least to the Turkic Orkhon tablets of the eighth century AD, a full two centuries earlier than the advent of the Cyrillic script in Kievan Rus. As a result of the Islamization of the area, those languages that had a written form utilized the Arabic script.

3. History of Russian influence on Central Asia

In this linguistic situation, the Russian language had little impact on the vast majority of Central Asians before the inauguration of the Soviet regime, except for the few elites who were involved in the tsarist administrative apparatus. However, the situation began to change after 1917. The first step was taken in the area of literacy: as noted above, illiteracy was a severe problem in the area, so one of the first tasks of the new government was to teach reading and writing, both in Russian and the native tongues. The massive literacy campaign that ensued was heavily influenced by Soviet ideology, as was noted by Kalinin in 1926: "In literacy teaching, all the work must be permeated by the political views of the revolutionary proletariat - otherwise expressed, by the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism." Primers used phrases such as "We have fought for the Soviets," "The Soviets have given us land, factories and plants," and " The Soviets are our strength".  Accession of Stalin to power brought about significant changes, just as they had in the area of religion. Stalin created a highly centralized system which, in the absence of a de jure official language, needed a de facto one to run the country smoothly-Russian was the only logical choice. The linguistic situation in Central Asia demanded some changes in order for the Russian language to gain acceptance there. Fortunately, the literacy campaign had paved the way for these changes.

The first step was to reform the alphabets, a process which took place elsewhere in the USSR at the same time. During the late 1920's and the early 1930's the Arabic alphabet was replaced by a Latin script similar to that used in Turkey. The final step was taken in the late 1930's and the early 1940's with the adoption of the Cyrillic script for all Central Asian languages. This move successfully cut off the Central Asians from their literary past, as well as a significant connection with the rest of the Islamic world. In addition, it opened the door for subsequent attempts to Russianize the languages.

A Russification of significant parts of cultural life and of the cultural elite took place; the Russian language became not only the language of cultural dialogue, but also the language of contact with secular, European and global cultural achievements; and a large Russian-speaking community, influential in all spheres, emerged in the region. In Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and also amongst the capital and urban populations of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the Russian language holds its position to this day-not only amongst Russian and Russian-speaking inhabitants, but amongst representatives of the locally originating, local elite. The Russian language remains an important factor in obtaining a good education, highly paid work, and high social status. The Russian language, even without having formal support, preserves an important position in the sphere of science and in the cultural field.

4. Mass Media in Central Asia

In the countries of Central Asia there is an established network of electronic and printed mass informational media. Most of the journals and newspapers is in Russian language, radio and TV everyday broadcasting in Russian language. The most people of this region everyday watching a Russian TV programs and movies. The major reason of dominant of Russian language is its unofficial status as the language of the most educated part of the population, these are people that have been or are being educated in Russian, as well as businessmen, various specialist that still use Russian as the language of business communication and literature. Russian language is very practical, compare the number of Russian-speakers in the world to the number of native language speakers. There is no huge demand for publication in native language. Very few people will read them, because most of native language speakers live in the villages but they even don’t have internet.

5. Literature

Central Asia is a long and rich literary heritage. Because of the general illiteracy in the area in premodern times, oral literature played a major role in passing on the history and culture of the people from one generation to another. Indeed, the area is renowned as the home of some of the world’s longest oral epic poems. Written literature also developed to a high degree, originally in Arabic and Persian and then, under the influence of the great poet Mir Ali Shir Navai (1441-1501), in Chagatay.

With the coming of Soviet rule, as in other areas, a signifivant change came to Central Asian literature. As literacy developed and the national languages of the peoples were engineered and given written forms, writers were forced on conform to the Soviet perspective on literature, as expressed in the theory of “Socialist Realism”. During the Soviet period, literature remained the most ideologized and politicized branch of culture. In the republics of Central Asia, a literary model was produced which had been peculiar to Russian literature since the 19^th century and was reinforced in the Soviet period; this model requires the writer to be a central figure in the culture, a symbolic go-between between the people and the authorities. The disintegration of Soviet cultural institutions dealt a heavy blow to literature. As a result of the collapse of the book market, local writers were practically unable to publish and to live – even partly- on the proceeds of literary work. Despite the continuing existence of the Writer’s Union, membership did not carry with it the formal financial and administrative incentives. The emigration of large part of the Russian-speaking population narrowed the reading public to an extreme degree. At the beginning of the 1990s the print runs of books sharply fell, and the retail prices increased dramatically. As a result new books became more or less unaffordable, and most trade in books in the 1990’s went through the second-hand bookshops (where Russian-speaking emigrants disposed of their home libraries). Since the beginning of this decade, there has been an increase in the import of Russian books, mostly light reading and educational literature; also the retail prices of Russian books are very high in relation to the average purchasing capacity of the Central Asian population.

6. Education

The modern Central Asian states have inherited from the Soviet period a system of continual training in cultural disciplines (literature, arts, music, etc.) through primary, secondary, and higher school; an infrastructure of extra curricular activities, and also a network of secondary and higher education institutions specializing in preparing young people for professional activity in the cultural sphere. The factor in the development of culture has been that permanent links with Russia and other regions of the former USSR have broken down. In Soviet times, emigrants from Central Asia had the opportunity, with state support, to improve their qualification in the educational institutions of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and other cities, and this included constant exchanges of specialists between the central Asian republics themselves. In Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, there are Russian universities, in Uzbekistan, affiliates of Moscow higher educations institutions, but despite Russian finance, the teaching is done by local professionals to local standards.

7. Cinema and theatre

Film production finds itself in a comparatively happy position. After a decade of different kinds of difficulties and transitional problems, this type of cultural production is on the way up again. The authorities devote attention to this sector due to its important ideological and symbolic function, financing films about historical figures and events, which are made to symbolize an age of return to “traditional roots”. The international market for films and the system of festivals stimulate private financial investment in film project with elements of “ethic art”. The internal market also create conditions to be self-financing, and sustain interest in film production, including relatively cheap and popular TV serials. All these factors taken together provide opportunities for the cinematic arts and their associated institutions to develop and adapt themselves to the new realities. After the end of the 1990s, film production in Central Asia began to revive. In Kyrgyzstan, partial state funding of film projects was restored, film production re-oriented itself towards private, mainly foreign investment, and a number of independent, arthouse films were made, aimed at the international festivals. Kazakhstan mainly financed historical films. The experience of making the film “Nomad” was representative: it was made to the standards of American cinema and at the same time charged with national –exotic themes.

The theatrical arts have developed in a completely different way. Large theatres with classical productions are in a situation of stagnation, both financial and in term of the repertoire. The state is not particularly interested in them, but has not put a stop to their activities. Audiences are reluctant to attend, and the box office takings are not enough to provide support for either personnel or buildings. Only the assistance of private companies and foreign sponsors helps maintain their professional activities. It is easier for small and more mobile theatrical troupes to survive, performing in more contemporary, including “ethno” genres, but they too are oriented mostly towards international investment, foreign tours and also private corporate functions.

Conclusion

Russian influence on Central Asia has been a great impact on society, culture and the mentality people of Central Asia. Russian power was in Central Asia more than 100 years, it’s begun from the end of 19^th century until the collapse of Soviet Union, even now the Russia have influence on Central Asian countries. All the Russian influence we can see today in Central Asians streets, schools, universities and in communication with people of this region. In all countries of Central Asia remained the Soviet system education and in most of the schools education in russian language.

I can say the Russian people and central Asian people who has lived in Soviet Union thinks and look at the world same. Because they got the same Soviet education. Russia has a big influence on Central Asia, influenced on history of this region and influenced on life of people who live in Central Asia.

References:

1. Bacon, Elizabeth E. Central Asians Under Russian Rule:ＡStudy in Culture Change
2. Isayev, M.I. National Languages in the USSR: Problems and Solutions. Moscow: Progress Publisher