The Uzbek Language
To properly understand the development of a unique variety of the English language in Uzbekistan, it is essential to first comprehend the basics of the Uzbek language. Various facets of this language contribute to the development of Uzbek English, including phonology, morphology, and semantics.
Given the ethnic diversity of the region, Uzbekistan is a multilingual country, and since its independence from the Soviet Union, linguistic ambiguity has increased heavily (Hasanova, 2007). The dominant language is Uzbek, a Turkic language that contains various Arabic, Russian, and Persian loan words. As of now, Uzbek is the only official state language of the country, despite the fact that the Karakalpak language is recognized in the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan.
Russian has long served as the lingua franca between the various ethnic minorities of the region, however, after the fall of the USSR, its influence is beginning to waiver. Although it is the most spoken second language in the country, its usage is beginning to lose relevance, as other languages such as Spanish, French, and especially English are widely more popular to learn among young Uzbek Students.
Given the ethnic diversity of the region, Uzbekistan is a multilingual country, and since its independence from the Soviet Union, linguistic ambiguity has increased heavily (Hasanova, 2007). The dominant language is Uzbek, a Turkic language that contains various Arabic, Russian, and Persian loan words. As of now, Uzbek is the only official state language of the country, despite the fact that the Karakalpak language is recognized in the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan.
Russian has long served as the lingua franca between the various ethnic minorities of the region, however, after the fall of the USSR, its influence is beginning to waiver. Although it is the most spoken second language in the country, its usage is beginning to lose relevance, as other languages such as Spanish, French, and especially English are widely more popular to learn among young Uzbek Students.
Northern vs. Southern Uzbek
The Uzbek language is divided into two variations, northern, which is the dominant language of Uzbekistan and surrounding regions, and southern, which is much smaller minority language spoken mainly in the northern regions of Afghanistan. The two variations are mutually intelligible, yet there exist difficulties in understanding due to variations in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary (Thompson, 2016).
Northern Uzbek is spoken by nearly twenty-one million people in Uzbekistan alone, with a worldwide total of about twenty-four million speakers. Linguistically, Northern Uzbek is divided into "O" and "A" categories, created by Russian scientist AL Borovkov based upon the use of initial consonants (i.e. Odom vs. Adam to mean "man") (OrexCA, 2018). |
Phonology |
Alphabets |
Vowels:
Northern Uzbek has five vowel phonemes; [i], [e], [a], [o], and [u]. Vowel length can change the meanings of words. Long vowels do not occur at the beginnings of words. (Thompson, 2016). Consonants: Northern Uzbek has twenty five consonant phonemes; Image taken from aboutworldlanguages.com
MorphologyAs with most other Turkic languages, Uzbek is an agglutinative language, defined by Alego and Butcher (2014) as "a language with complex but usually regular derivational forms" (p. 318).
A notable example of this feature is the translation of "In a hotel," which amounts to the single word Mekhmonkhonada, illustrating the importance of inflection in the language (OrexCA, 2018). The Uzbek language contains five cases; Normative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, and Ablative. SyntaxThe typical word order of Uzbek is subject-object-verb.
An illustrative example of Uzbek-English translation includes the sentence Biz non haqida gapirdik, which translates directly to "We bread about talked," signifying "We talked about bread" (Thompson, 2016). This example is also illustrative of the fact that Uzbek has post-positions instead of prepositions and relative clauses that precede verbs (Thompson, 2016). LexiconThe lexicon of Uzbek is mainly Turkic, with various words borrowed from Persian, Arabic, and Russian.
The various loanwords from Russian have helped with some English learning in the country, as Russian and English both belong to the Indo-European language family and include certain cognates. These include more modern words introduced to the Uzbek people by the USSR including televisor for "television set," telefon for "telefone," and magazin for "store" (Thompson 2016). Common words and phrases in Uzbek include; Salom (caлoм) - Hello (note the similarity to the Semetic translation) Xayr (хайр) - Goodbye Raxmat (раҳмат) - Thank you Marxamat (марҳамат) - Please (note the similarity to "thank you") Xa (ҳа) - Yes Yo'q (йўк) - No |
Throughout its existence, the Uzbek language has shifted between three main alphabets, Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic. These shifts have largely been political in nature, as dominance over the region has shifted between Islamic, Soviet, and western powers throughout its existence.
The various alphabets that Uzbek has utilized throughout ts existence further portrays the intercultural character of the language, and the modified Latin script has paved the way for the development of a unique Uzbek English. Arabic Alphabet for Uzbek (ئۇزبېك الفباسى)Latin Alphabet for Uzbek (o’zbek alifbosi) 1995 VersionCyrillic Alphabet for Uzbek (ўзбек алифбоси)(Images taken from omniglot.com)
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