This is a comprehensive study on expressions of modality in one of the largest Turkic languages, Kazakh, as it is spoken in China. Kazakh is the official language of the Republic of Kazakhstan and is furthermore spoken by about one and a half million people in China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and in Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu Province.The method employed is empirical, i.e. data-oriented. The modal expressions in Kazakh are analyzed in a theoretical framework essentially based on the works of Lars Johanson. The framework defines semantic notions of modality from a functional and typological perspective. The modal volition, deontic evaluation, and epistemic evaluation express attitudes towards the propositional content and are conveyed in Kazakh by grammaticalized moods, particles and lexical devices. All these categories are treated in detail, and ample examples of their different usages are provided with interlinear annotation. The Kazakh expressions are compared with corresponding ones used in other Turkic languages. Contact influences of Uyghur and Chinese are also dealt with.The data used in this study include texts recorded by the author in 20102012, mostly in the northern regions of Xinjiang, as well as written texts published in Kazakhstan and China. The written texts represent different genres: fiction, non-fiction, poetry and texts published on the Internet. Moreover, examples have been elicited from native speakers of Kazakh and Uyghur. The Appendix contains nine texts recorded by the author in the Kazakh-speaking regions of Xinjiang, China. These texts illustrate the use of many of the items treated in the study.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 280-290).

Diss.--Mainz--Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 1989. / Bibliogr. p. XI-XXI.

This dissertation concerns the development and interaction of Kazakh and Russian identities in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. My research questions were: (1) what was the character of these identities in 2003/04 (the time of my research); (2) how have these identities interacted to form dominant and subordinate identities, and (3) how can the character of these identities and their interaction be explained? In order to research these questions I used a general questionnaire followed up by open ended interviews of a representative sample of Kazakhstani citizens. While my research findings show continued uncertainty and provisionality in both Kazakh and Russian identities, which confirms the broad trend of previous surveys, they also indicate signs of change in the emergence of more consolidated dominant and subordinate identities in the less Russianised areas like Chimkent and among the younger generation, while by contrast the older generations of Russians, particularly in the more Russianised areas, find it difficult to accept the delegitimation of their dominant status as reflected in the nationalizing policies pursued by the new state. In theoretical terms these findings confirm the importance of the study of ethnic stratification, which has not received sufficient attention in previous research in this area. In explaining these developments I found that the character of the transition and also of the ‘prior regime type’ in Kazakhstan has had a significant effect on ethnic relationships, but also that international factors, such as those presented in Brubaker’s triadic model, and internal factors, elaborated by Schermerhorn and Horowitz, were also important.

This thesis aims to understand the formation of the Russian identity in the Kazakh Steppes by examining the migration flows of Russians and the affects of state policies and pattern of inter-ethnic relations between the Russians and the Kazakhs during different historical periods. Constructionist theoryhas guided the analysis of the research. The Russian identity formation in the Kazakh Steppes is examined within the contextof three consequtive historical periods that correspond to fundamental social, political and administartive re-structuring. Firstis the period of the Russiam Empire, during which the resettlement policy of the Empire shattered the traditional social structures of the native Kazakhs and entailed extensive inter-ethnic contact between the Russians and the Kazakhs. Second period corresponds to the period of the Soviet Union, which experianced the intensification of Russian settelments in the Kazakh Steppes. The soviet policy, while encouraging Russianness as a component of soviet identity, atthe same time, granted autonomy todiverse ethnic entites. The third period, which correspondes to the current era starting with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, witnessed the emergance of Kazakh State. A large portion of the Russian population in the Kazakh Steppes remained in the independent republic of Kazakhstan and face a new challenges in tearms of identity formation due to the Kazakh nation building policies.

À Astana, la capitale du Kazakhstan, le russe et le kazakh s’entremêlent quotidiennement dans les conversations. Ce mémoire porte sur les idéologies linguistiques qui soutiennent le codeswitching entre les différents registres du kazakh et du russe. J’ai réalisé trois mois de terrain ethnographique durant lesquels j’ai conduit de l’observation du paysage et des pratiques linguistiques que j’ai contrastées avec des entrevues de type récit de vie. Cette approche m’a permis de souligner que le russe est privilégié dans les contextes publics : c’est la langue de l’école, du travail, des commerces et des médias. Le russe ouvre de nombreuses portes et peut être considéré comme un index de réussite sociale. Le registre « domestique » du kazakh est caractérisé par ses emprunts et ses calques au russe. Il est principalement utilisé dans les contextes liés à la famille et aux traditions. Ce registre est un emblème de l’identité kazakhe. Pour cette raison, un parent peut exiger de quelqu’un qu’il performe ce registre, ce qui est une source d’anxiété. Cependant, le kazakh domestique n’est pas désirable dans toutes les situations. Des siècles de discours racistes ont stigmatisé la nationalité kazakhe et ce stigma est transmis au registre domestique. Le kazakh « institutionnel » est une variété qui a été développée par des acteurs qui gravitent autour du gouvernement spécifiquement pour échapper au stigma. Il s’agit d’une forme linguistique puriste qui vise à performer l’État-nation du Kazakhstan. Son utilisation, qui occasionne un maximum d’anxiété, est limitée aux rituels de l’État, tels que les discours présidentiels et les publications gouvernementales. Pour que cette théâtralité soit possible, le kazakh institutionnel est une exigence pour tous les employés du secteur public. Inversement, cela crée un incitatif à apprendre ce registre, particulièrement pour les Kazakhs qui ont un niveau d’éducation postsecondaire en russe. Je soutiens que la guerre russo-ukrainienne déstabilise l’équilibre entre les registres. Le conflit affecte l’Asie Centrale politiquement, économiquement et socialement, notamment par l’arrivée de centaines de milliers de migrants russes. Dans ces circonstances tendues, j’ai observé une augmentation de l’audibilité du kazakh. Surtout, je défends que la population est en train de redéfinir le sens de parler kazakh en public pour en faire un acte de résistance. Dans ce contexte en transformation, les langues sont utilisées métonymiquement pour discuter de questions identitaires et politiques. / In Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, Russian and Kazakh are intertwined daily. This MA thesis is concerned with linguistic ideologies supporting code preferences between registers of Kazakh and Russian. I conducted three months of ethnographic fieldwork involving the observation of linguistic landscape and practices that I contrasted with life stories interviews. This approach allowed me to highlight that Russian is privileged in public contexts, such as schools, place of work, shops, and medias. For this reason, Russian opens many doors and can be considered an index of social success. The “domestic” register of Kazakh is characterized by borrowing and calques from Russian. It’s most employed in contexts relating to family and deemed as traditional. This linguistic variety is emblematic of Kazakh identity. Consequently, parents, especially elders, can demand someone to switch to this register, which is a source of anxiety. However, domestic Kazakh isn’t desirable in all situations. Centuries of racist discourse led to the stigmatization of Kazakh nationality, a stigma which is transmitted to the domestic register. “Institutional” Kazakh is a linguistic variety developed by actors close to the government specifically to escape the stigma link to the domestic register. It’s a purist register that aims to perform the Nation-state of Kazakhstan. Its use, which leads to a maximum of anxiety, is limited to state’s rituals, such as presidential speeches or governmental publications. For this performative theatricality to be maintained, institutional Kazakh as to be a requirement for all public sector’s employees. In turn, this requirement creates an incentive to learn this register, especially for Kazakhs who already hold a postsecondary education in Russian. I argue the Russo-Ukrainian war is destabilizing this equilibrium between registers. The conflict affects Central Asia politically, economically and socially, notably through the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Russian migrants. In this tense circumstances, I observed an increased audibility of the Kazakh language. Most importantly, I assert the population is redefining speaking Kazakh in public—in a wider array of forms—as an act of resistance. In this uneasy and moving context, languages seem to be used metonymically to discuss identity and political claims.

In this thesis, the purpose is to analyze the path that the nation building process in Kazakhstan has been following in the post-Soviet period through examining the various policies implemented and the official rhetoric and discourses stated by the Kazakh policymakers. The ethno-symbolist approach of Anthony D. Smith and the views of Walker Connor and Willfried Spohn on nationalism and national identity have been utilized in the analysis of the research. The Soviet Nationalities Policy is examined to be able to better understand the post-Soviet nation-building, because the policies implemented under this comprehensive project, which had been outlined by the Bolsheviks, had deep political, cultural, demographic and linguistic impacts on the process in Kazakhstan. The ethnic situation has also been laid down in order to highlight under which ethnic circumstances the nation building process has been taking place. After analyzing the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the post-Soviet policies about language, education, employment, culture and national symbols, the statements of the President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the move of capital, this study claims that post-Soviet nation building process and nationalism in Kazakhstan have both ethnic and civic components whereby the nation building process in Kazakhstan is a more ethnic process than it is civic.

This dissertation aims to discuss the incorporation of the &ldquo / nationalist&rdquo / Kazak intellectuals of Alash Orda to the Soviet Socialist Republics and their role in the establishment of the Kazak ASSR. In the course of events they acted first together with Russian liberal democrats, then they sought to establish a national government and fought against the Bolsheviks, but after 1920 they chose to stay in the USSR and join the modernization process of their homeland alongside the Bolsheviks. In the mainstream academic discourse the local leaders in the republics of the USSR are generally considered as passive victims of the Soviet policies. The members of the Kazak national movement of Alash Orda are also neglected as weak political figures after they had accepted the Soviet rule. But they continued their struggle for enlightening the Kazak people in 1920s. Their collaboration with the Bolsheviks was concomitant to their motives of modernizing the Kazaks. Their role in the Soviet Kazakstan did not come to an end after their acceptance of the Soviet sovereignty but it continued. My argument is that the struggle of the members of Alash Orda was in continuity with their program before the revolution, and their cooperation with the Bolsheviks was a way to realize their objectives, and it opened a sphere for them to have a role in the formation of the Kazak ASSR.

This work focuses on the influence of terror, extremism, trafficking and corruption on the regional security of Central Asia, with a particular emphasis on Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is regarded as the most stable and financially developed state in Central Asia, yet domestic and regional stability are threatened by the rise in extremism, narcotics trafficking, institutional corruption and acts of terrorism. The challenges of trafficking and extremism within the region originated from outside of Central Asia. Foreign organizations and ideologies are significant actors in progression of regional instability. Government response to these challenges can perpetuate or stymie the aforementioned threats to regional security. Repressive regimes inadvertently contribute to the propaganda of the non-state foes. A prominent solution is the international program referred to as border management. This program aims to support border security while also promoting economic growth and ensuring the protection of human rights. Improved borders promotes regional security, economic growth can potentially undermine the growth of corruption and human rights protection can undermine a large part of extremist propaganda.

The purpose of the work is to conduct a comprehensive study of the solution of the QA task for low-resource languages using the example of the Kazakh and Uzbek languages, creating models and datasets in the corresponding languages, using machine translation of datasets from high-resource languages using special markers. The hypothesis of the importance of proximity of languages in choosing the source language for translation is also being investigated. QA models have been created that demonstrate better results for the Kazakh and Uzbek languages than all other publicly available models. / Цель работы состоит в том, чтобы провести комплексное исследование решения задачи QA для низкоресурсных языков в виде казахского и узбекского языка, создав модели и датасеты на соответствующих языках, при помощи машинного перевода датасетов на высокоресурсных языках с использованием специальных маркеров. Также исследуется гипотеза о важности близости языков при выборе языка источника для перевода. Созданы QA-модели, демонстрирующие лучшие результаты для казахского и узбекского языков, чем все другие публично доступные модели.