The relationship between a language and a nation is a debatable topic, especially for the post-Soviet
countries and Kazakhstan in particular, as we discussed during our classes. As Ingrid Pillar (2012) claims
in the article, the promotion of a national language could be the outcome of political strategies focused
on strengthening state authority in the eyes of the nation, as it was in the case of Turkey. Nevertheless, I
believe that aside from the political view on such a relationship, there is a cultural view where the
language is of vital importance for nation-building, yet it is not the major player.
The national language has a significant contribution to national identity since it unites people as well as
distinguishes them from other nations. However, as in the case of Kazakhstan, the state is a home for
more than 120 ethnicities, meaning that each of them has its unique language. Moreover, with Kazakh
being a national language and Russian – a language of interethnic communication, I think that from the
cultural point of view, national identity goes way beyond simply a language, as it lays in the national
culture and traditions. Although I am Russian and I do not speak Kazakh, I was raised by Kazakhstani
culture, and I am a part of the Kazakhstani nation, so the sense of belonging to the nation is not based
on the language for the ethnicities other than the Kazakh one.
From the political point of view, a national language serves an important role in the effectiveness of the
state’s operations. I believe that one of the reasons the Kazakh language is promoted by the state
authorities is to unify all of the diverse ethnicities since a unified nation is much easier to be controlled.
However, although Kazakhstan supports its ethnical diversity, the issue of minimization of the Kazakh
language’s role in the communication of the state’s citizens is present, since Russian is used much widely
among people, which contributes to the negative side of nationalism.