Postcard from Bishkek

One of my favourite anecdotes tells of a couple of Japanese tourists that end up in a bar in New York.  They have a few drinks and then some more … one thing leads to another and, sure enough, they begin to get louder, more emotional and more belligerent … an argument ensues and the begin not simply talking loudly, but shouting at each other … in Japanese, of course.  It is not clear what is being said … and it looks as if things might turn violent.  This proves too much for the barman who reaches below the counter and takes his trusty baseball bat, bringing it crashing down onto the bar with a loud noise.  “Enough,” he cries, “You are in America now … speak our language … speak Spanish!”

The punchline in the story, of course, is that “Spanish” is unexpected … everyone thinks that the official language of the United States is English – but that’s not strictly speaking true … as the US doesn’t have an official language.  Only twenty eight out of the fifty states have adopted legislation granting English status as the “Official” language, (including Hawaii which also accords this status to Hawaiian).

Nebraska was the first state to enact such a provision, in 1923, (although the constitution of New Mexico grants a special status to Spanish – adopted in 1912 – but apparently this isn’t the same as being declared an “official” language), and the latest to do so was Oklahoma in 2010.  New Mexico, though

The others have no ordinances as to an official language.

The predominance of English is probably due to the fact that the vast majority of Americans are English speakers, over 230 million of the 286 million which make up the population.  Spanish is the second most common language with 35 million speakers – a long way ahead of the next contender.  In some states, however, (such as Texas and New Mexico), Spanish is almost as common as English and the states are sometimes described as bilingual.

Maine and Louisiana are likewise considered bilingual – but in the case the second language is French – which lags a little behind the Chinese and Filipino families of languages with about 1.3 million speakers.

 

Here in Kyrgyzstan, we do have an Official Language – Russian … but we also have a State Language – Kyrgyz, (which seems to have a higher status).  Kyrgyz was adopted as the State Language in the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic on 23rd September, 1989, just two years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  As a result, today has been adopted as the Day of the State Language in Kyrgyzstan.

Although the “holiday” is today, at school, the kids actually commemorated it last Friday with recitals of Kyrgyz poetry, music, posters on the wall and so on.

As it happens, this question of language is quite important in modern day Kyrgyzstan … and can be highly charged with emotional, political and social significance.

Which should not actually be all that surprising.  After all, language was one of the characteristics used to distinguish between ethnic groupings during the debate of the “Nationalities Question”, shortly after the 1917 Revolution.  It was, and it still is, one of the main distinguishing marks used in helping to define the Kyrgyz as a people.

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Shortly after Independence, in what was perceived by some to be nationalistic move, a law was passed in 1992 that called for all the affairs of the state to be conducted only in Kyrgyz – with a five year deadline for this to be implemented.  Some steps were taken as a result – many of the forms and documents were produced in bilingual forms – with both Russian and Kyrgyz headings.  It became a requirement to speak Kyrgyz in order to hold certain public offices – particularly that of President, Prime Minister and Toroga, (Speaker of the Parliament).

However, in 1996, a new law was passed granting Russian the status as an Official Language alongside Kyrgyz, probably as a measure of rapprochement with the local, regional, “big player” … in political, economic and other spheres of influence.  Although this might imply some form of U-Turn in official policy … the issue has continued to be raised periodically.

Sometimes, for example, some of the deputies sometimes create a fuss when Ministers reply to questions about their department in Russian rather than Kyrgyz.  One deputy in particular asked a question the other day about the competence of certain officials, asking how would some basic words like prikaz and postavleniye be translated into Kyrgyz, (Order and Resolution), but it was interesting to notice that press reports didn’t give the answers – buiruk and toktom.

Then again, a couple of week’s ago, one deputy criticized many of the Kyrgyz versions of the documents that they are presented with as being ungrammatical – although, he said, the Russian version reads fine, but the translation is not good.  His solution was to draft the Bills in Kyrgyz first and then translate them into Russian.

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One of the problems seems to be, however, that although there is a State Commission for the promotion of the Kyrgyz language, there appears to be some confusion over what constitutes a definitive version of the language – particularly between variations that seem to be evident between the Kyrgyz of different regions.  I was told, for example, by one person, (a native Russian speaker), that when her 16 year old son asked a neighbour (a native Kyrgyz speaker) to help with his Kyrgyz Language homework for school, he was awarded a mark of 2 – the equivalent of a D.  When he asked his stupefied neighbour what had happened, he was told that “I come from the Chui oblast – your teacher comes for Osh”.  That could, of course, simply be a case of the neighbour trying to “save face” in an embarrassing situation … but I cite it as an example of my point: the fact that there seems to be problems of defining the language.

Even if it is an overstatement of the problem, it shouldn’t surprise us too much … after all, Language is a dynamic feature of human culture, rather than a static one.  It changes over the course of time and adapts to circumstances and new situations.  The English as spoken and written by Shakespeare was quite different than the English we speak today, for example, and, indeed, he is even partly responsible for many of the features of contemporary usage.

Now, I am not a linguist, (yet alone a linguistic historian), but I am told that there are several observable periods, or stages, that can be traced in the historical development of the Kyrgyz language:

• the “ancient” period, (during the 8th and 9th centuries), when their language one of a family of Old Turkic languages written in runes and the basis of many of the traditional epic sagas were laid, at least in oral form;
• the “middle ages”, (between the 10th and 15th centuries),
• the “new Kyrgyz period”, (from the 15th century onwards), which saw the codification of the language with the introduction of a written language … and is divided into four phases:
  • from the 15th century through to the mid 18th century, when tribes maintained close ties with each other;
  • the period between the mid-18th century to the time of the Great October Revolution … which saw diversification between the tribes;
  • the Soviet period when a single nation, (and language), was formed … and
  • the post Soviet period, which has seen a rapid development with a broadening the user base of the language along with borrowings from English and other languages to add to the traditional forms.

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The important think about language, it seems to me, is that it is all about “communication” and, as such, status is not as important as functionality.  Although English is by far the most commonly used language in America, there are times and places where another language is not only a good idea because it facilitates communication between people, but it may actually be preferable.

Of course, in order to gain the most out of a visit to Kyrgyzstan – be it on business or vacation – then learning about the local people and their culture … and their language … will help people understand and communicate with each other more effectively.

Likewise, if Kyrgyzstan wants to work in the international arena, then it has to learn something about the culture and language of their partners … whether it be Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian … or whatever.

 

 

Tags: Calendar, Language