GEOPOLITICAL OBJECTIVES OF ALPHABET POLICY IN THE UZBEK SSR
Keywords:
alphabet policy, geopolitical strategy, latinization, cyrillization, Arabic script, Soviet ideology, identity, Russification, nation-building, language reformAbstract
This article analyzes the geopolitical motives behind the script shifts in the Uzbek SSR, focusing on transitions from Arabic to Latin and later Cyrillic. Using content analysis and historical reconstruction, it reveals how Soviet language policy aimed to weaken religious memory, control Turkic regions, and reinforce Russification. The post-independence return to Latin is viewed as an act of identity restoration and a continuation of decolonization processes.
References
Djatlenko, Pavel Ivanovich. “Yazykovye reformy v Tsentralnoy Azii: trendy, tseli, itogi.” Vestnik Evrazii, no. 4 (2008). https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/yazykovye-reformy-v-tsentralnoy-azii-trendy-tseli-itogi
Nazarova, Aynur. “Sovetskaya model ‘yazykovoy politiki’ v natsionalnom stroitelstve Uzbekistana.” International Journal of Russian Studies 12, no. 2 (2023).
Kosmarskiy, Artyom Anatolyevich. “Smysly latinizatsii v Uzbekistane (konets XX — nachalo XXI veka).” Vestnik Evrazii, no. 3 (2003). https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/smysly-latinizatsii-v-uzbekistane-konets-xxnachalo-xxi-veka
Togaev, Tulkin Mamanazarovich. “Reformirovaniya pis’mennosti v Uzbekistane v 20-godakh proshlogo stoletiya.” ORIENS, no. 6 (2022). https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/reformirovaniya-pismennosti-v-uzbekistane-v-20-godah-proshlogo-stoletiya
Zhu, Jin. “Yazykovaya politika v Kazakhstane.”
Мусаев, Вадим Ибрагимович. "Движение на алфавитную латинизацию: отечественный и международный опыт." Международные отношения и диалог культур 6 (2018): 215-237.
Landau, Jacob M., and Barbara Kellner-Heinkele. Politics of Language in Central Asia. London: Routledge, 2012.
Fierman, William. “Language Planning and Identity in Uzbekistan.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Smith, Michael G. Soviet Nationalities Policy and Alphabet Reforms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Pavlenko, Aneta. Language Politics in the Post-Soviet Space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
