Nasir-i-Khusrow, famous Persian poet who brought Ismailism to Tajikistan. And Lenin, famous dictator who brought Communism to Tajikistan.
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Turgai Sangar says:
August 3, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Thank you Botur. Although I think that Russian is to stay influential in Tajikistan (for ex. labour migration) and the rest of Eurasia like English does in India and Pakistan, there is definitely ground and need to strenghten Tajik-Farsi. If it is to do that, however, I think it inevitably has to revert to the Farsi-Arabic script because only as a part of a wider Farsi sphere it can gain a strong position. In its present form, ‘Tajik’ can not be called a language really, but rather a castrated, sovietized form of Farsi (just like ‘Moldovan’ used to be a sovietised form of Romanian at the time).
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Ekspeditsya says:
August 3, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Your argument is understandable, but the issue is whether the Tajik government is truly being sincere in its behaviour. There is every reason to believe that Rakhmon is simply acting out of spite toward Moscow.
“In US, France, Japan and majority of countries worldwide there is one language designated as official or state language which every citizen is obligated to learn and use.”
This argument, which copies the official line essentially verbatim, is misleading, misguided and probably wrong. In fact, many countries with some kind of colonial history tend in general to pursue a bilingual official language policy. The reasons for this are multiple and sound, while there is absolutely nothing about it that inherently undermines the native language.
The brutal fact of the matter is that by marginalizing Russian (and this is happening, regardless of the government’s feeble protests), the country alienates itself from the wider world and shuts out a large section of the population, much of it highly skilled and well-educated, from public discourse. And that, worryingly, may be part of the aim.
The evaluation and increased sophistication of the Tajik language is a process that can very happily develop alongside continued adherence to Russian.
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Turgai Sangar says:
August 3, 2009 at 2:57 pm
“This argument, which copies the official line essentially verbatim, is misleading, misguided and probably wrong. In fact, many countries with some kind of colonial history tend in general to pursue a bilingual official language policy.”
I agree. There is no reason why there can not be bilingualism and why the former colonial language and a revamped native national langauge can not co-exist in some way, either symbiotic or in constant competition. Examples include Urdu and English in Pakistan and Bahasa and English in Malaysia. The thing is to chose a policy regarding the native national language and be consequent in it.
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Faramarz says:
August 3, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Look, there are more than one and a half million Tajiks in Russia, but Russia does not give any status to Tajik language or any other language. Why should they claim a status for Russian in Tajikistan while only one percent of Tajikistan is Russian.
Their position definitely shows a colonialist mindset. Such colonialist approach is not acceptable. Russian should accept that the world is no more the one of Soviet times and nationas are independent enough to decide about their language and their internal affairs.
take care,
Faramarz
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Turgai Sangar Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Faramarz, there are about 1.8 million people of Indian and Pakistani origin in the UK where Hindi, Urdu or regional Indian languages are not official either, and only about 70.000 British in India and Pakistan where English does has official status.
This being said, Russian does not has to be official in Tajikistan. Yet it will remain influent and should be teached is schools as well for the reasons already stated: economic geography and as a link to technical and scientific knowlegde. Let it be clear that I am personally strongly in favor of strengthening and promoting Farsi-Tajik. But then it has to get its act together, shed its sovietised version and return to the Farsi-Arabic script so that it can be part of the wider Farsi language sphere.
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Botur Kosimi says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
August 5, 2009 at 10:52 am
Thank you all for comments.
Turgai: No country needs to promote extensive unskilled labor migration such as happening in Tajikistan and Moldova. This process is more beneficial for labor receiving country, but in fact makes the sending country economically dependent, politically vulnerable, and culturally degraded. So, such labor migration should be gradually reduced as well as the role of Russian in Tajikistan and other former SU states. The point is that government has to help create jobs in the country and let population produce goods and wealth they need at home, not force them work abroad and import everything.
Turgai: Tajikistan is not the same as India or Pakistan. We were and are part of a strong Persian-speaking language and culture that has been thriving and influencing other cultures and languages significantly for over thousand years. So, Russian is not more advanced than Persian (Tajik) as English is or was compared to scattered group of languages grouped under Hindi. So, it should be understandable why they needed to have English as another official language.
Turgai: You’re right that present Tajik will have to be returned to its original script, so it can grow back to its Persian roots in order to prosper as a slight dialect of strong Farsi language as in times of Rudaki, Firdavsi, Sino, Farabi, Khayam, Saadi, and Saadi. Hopefully, we will make this happen in near future.
Ekspeditsiya: The main issue here is not whether the Tajik government is truly being sincere in its behavior. It is about providing the official national language due respect and control in all state and official affairs in the country where there’s need only for one language, Tajik. Countries as current-day Afghanistan can have 2 state languages because of almost 50/50 percent Dari or Pashtun speaking population. Tajiks constitute 80% of country’s population and Russian speakers are mere 1%. That’s it.
Eskpeditsiya: Whatever I said are my own words, not copies of any official statements. It is not misleading nor wrong, but completely fair that any sovereign and respectful nation, constituting 2/3 of country’s population, can have one language designated as official or state language which every citizen is obligated to learn and use. Not all countries which have been previously occupied by another need to follow the same example. Each is different and with its own pretext and arguments. It is clearly explained in the post how a foreign language if given power to serve as a mean of communication between different nationalities, can actually reduce sphere of influence of the official language and cause various social problems with integration and enhancing national unity in Tajikistan.
Eskpeditsiya: We all need to master our own language first before we start learning another one. That’s the old, time-proven saying we have in Tajik. Empowering official state language with what it deserves will be useful in improving population’s knowledge of it, regardless of ethnicity. Getting rid of Russian will not negatively affect Tajikistan or alienate it as fortunately, there are strong languages out there such as our own Farsi, English, French, German, Japanese that our people can and should learn and thus, gain access to wider world science, achievements, and progress.
Ekspedistiya: Tajik cannot maintain growth and richness with a completely different language and culture of Russian alongside, but rather as part of larger Persian-language world.
And thank you, Faramarz for your valuable points. God bless you all.
bkosimi
Recently a proposal of a new law to enhance the status and role of Tajik language has been submitted by government to Majlis (parliament) which became a hot topic for discussions. Our friends Darius Rajabian (
