How different languages are used on the state and commercial signs in post-Soviet Kazakhstan

What is it about?

Different languages can be used on public and commercial signs in multilingual contexts. The choice of languages is very strategic and can tell us a lot about the state and individuals’ language ideologies. This paper examines how the Kazakh, Russian, and English languages are used on state and commercial signs in a small town in the north of Kazakhstan. Specifically, Kazakh is privileged on the state signs by being placed on the left and center. Differently, Russian is privileged on the commercial signs by being placed in the center. Thus, the state language policies are not followed fully by the local businesses because everyday people speak Russian more and thus it is more efficient in selling goods.

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Why is it important?

How several languages are positioned on multilingual state and commercial signs (on the left, right, or center) can shed light on the social status of each of the languages. This examination provides more information about language ideologies at the level of the state, and at the level of local businesses in post-Soviet Kazakhstan who are trying to overcome Russian and Soviet colonization. Thus, we see that despite the attempts to popularize Kazakh among the general population, Russian still has a strong impact. This insight is aimed at helping to design realistic language policies that will motivate the use of Kazakh on daily basis.

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