NATION-BUILDING IN CENTRAL ASIA THROUGH LANGUAGE LEGISLATION

In the short space of one year, from July 1989 to May 1990, all five Central Asian republics
passed legislation making the national languages state languages and Russian the language of
inter-ethnic communication. This was preceded in the Soviet period by frequent discussions and
complaints in the republican press over the deplorable state of the national languages – one of
the few politically acceptable expressions of national self-identity at that time. This paper will
examine the significance of language legislation to the nation-building process in Central Asia
as an important factor in the moves of these republics towards sovereignty and finally
independence from the center and in asserting national awareness among the people.