There?s a lot of controversy here at the moment about proposed changes to the law about the State Language which would require that all government documents appear only in Kyrgyz and that all civil servants to pass a Kyrgyz-language exam and impose fines for those who slip into Russian in official meetings.
I confess to a certain amount of confusion.
On 2nd April, 2004, President Akaev signed the law on the State Language : Kyrgyz. ?Four years earlier, however, (on 29th May, 2000), he had signed another law defining the Official language of the Kyrgyz Republic : Russian.
My problem is that I don?t understand these two terms.
This is partly because, in Britain, we don?t have an Official Language. ?Although English is the ?dominant language?, there is, (at least as far as I am aware), ?no formal designation of it, (or any other language), as an official language.
For the record: I can find several definitions for the term ?official language? in the literature, and a summary of them might be: ?An official language is one that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically it is the language used within its government ? its courts, parliament, administration, etc. in order to run its operations and conduct its business.
This suggests that an official language is the language used by ?government?, and not necessarily that of ?the people?.
Custom and practice may give English a de facto?status in the UK so that it is accepted as the ?official languiage? ? but the?de jure?status can only granted?by some legal instrument ? such as in a constitution, law or decree ? and in British law ?the is no such instrument.
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Now, although I can find definitions for the term ?official language?, I cannot find a similar one for the term ?state language?. ?Indeed, most of the references I have found ?simply refer to a definition for an official language ? indeed the two terms seem to used interchangeably. ?Indeed, one (Russian) legal dictionary tells us that:
In most countries (including RUSSIA) the notion of ?official language? and ?State language? are the same language. Only a few countries distinguish the status of official and state languages.
The only reference to a distinction between the two that I could find was:
Only a few countries distinguish the status of official and national languages ??- in this case fixing the State Language in the constitution is largely symbolic in nature, (for example, in Switzerland, according to the Constitution, official languages are: German, French, and Italian, and State Languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh, though the latter is almost never used in state and public life).
That seems to imply that designation of a state language has a symbolic value ? with the Swiss example suggesting that it refer to the language of the people rather than the language of the government ? .
That doesn?t seem to be the case here in Kyrgyzstan ? where the distinction is defined in Article 10 of the constitution:
Article 10.
- The state language of the Kyrgyz Republic is the Kyrgyz language.
- In the Kyrgyz Republic Russian is used as the official language.
- The Kyrgyz Republic guarantees to representatives of all?ethnicities?forming the people of Kyrgyzstan, the right to native language preservation, creation of conditions for its studying and development.
However, this doesn?t help very much as difference in the terms is not defined.
In the law on the State language, (2004), the opening section defining the General Provisions has three articles which state:
Article 1.
According to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic a state language of the Kyrgyz Republic is the Kyrgyz language.
The Kyrgyz language as one of the main bases of statehood of the Kyrgyz Republic functions without fail in all spheres of the state activity and local government in an order provided by the present Law and other laws of the Kyrgyz Republic.
In the Kyrgyz Republic as an official language Russian is used.
The Kyrgyz Republic guarantees to representatives of all nationalities forming the people of Kyrgyzstan, native language preservation, creation of conditions for its studying and development.
The infringement of the rights and freedom of citizens on the basis of ignorance state or an official language is not supposed.
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Article 3.
The Kyrgyz language as is considered a state language also a language of international dialogue in the Kirghiz Republic.
Although the law has been amended four times, these particular provisions have not been amended.
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Article 1 of the law on the official language, (2000), states:
The official language of the Kirghiz Republic is the language used along with a state language in sphere of the government, the legislation and legal proceedings of the Kyrgyz Republic, and also in other spheres of a public life of the Kyrgyz Republic in cases and the order, provided by the present Law and the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The official language of the Kyrgyz Republic is a language which serves as the language of international dialogue admits and promotes the integration of republic into the world community.
The official language in the Kyrgyz Republic is Russian.
Action of the present Law does not extend to the relations connected with use of a state language, having the special status fixed in the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic ?About a state language of the Kyrgyz Republic?.
Once again the law has been amended, (twice), but this article remains as in the original.
So ? does that help to clear up the confusion? ?Well ? Not really.
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The implication of the text in the Law on the State Language, (it seems to me), ?is that Kyrgyz was meant to be the language of government ? although the third paragraph of article 1 raises once again the question of definition ?.
On the other hand, the implication of the Official Language, (once again, it seems to me), is that Russian is explicitly given the status of a language to be used in government for the conduct of its business, (albeit along with Kyrgyz and subject to other legislation), and also for international communication.
When it comes to that ?other legislation?, there is a reference in the last paragraph of Article 1?to a ?Law of the Kyrgyz Republic ?About a state language of the Kyrgyz Republic?" ? which was, in fact, a reference to a law passed in 1989, (when Kyrgyzstan was a constituent Republic of the USSR), which has now been superceeded and lost force when the 2004 was enacted. ?That law stipulated:
Article 1.
According to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic the Kyrgyz ?language is a state language of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Article 11.
The state language is ?the language of work of state governing bodies of the Kyrgyz ?Soviet Socialist Republic. ?It is applied in office-work, at sessions and working meetings, with maintenance of translation into Russian for the persons who are not fluent in the state language.
Once again, (it seems to me), Kyrgyz is defined as the language of government ? but included several provisions which acted as safeguards for non-Kyrgyz speakers ? many (all?) of which were included in the later laws and provided the framework in which the 2000 law on the Official Language was drafted. ? ?? but some of which are now under discussion ? and under threat in a series of new amendments that would mean all legislation and government business would have to be conducted in Kyrgyz.
As a result the ?official? language ? Russian ? wouldn?t be what is generally understood by the term ?official language? ? whatever it says in the constitution and other legislation ?
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Incidentally, one of the problems of working with translations is that some things are not easily translated ? ?in Russian, for example, there is no word for the articles ?a? and ?the? and there are a number of places where that could be important ? for example, in the 1989 law was it: ??According to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic the Kyrgyz ?language is a state language of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic? ? or ? ?According to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic the Kyrgyz ?language is the state language of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic?
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Maybe I am just being a pedant, or perhaps it is a reflection of the fact that I was brought up in the Anglo Saxon school of philosophy (where ?definitions? are so important) ? but it seems to me that someone needs to sit down and work out exactly what the difference is between the State language and the Official language, (both the intention behind the use of those terms and the way that they have been, and are being, both interpreted and applied).
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Source: http://ianbek.kg/?p=11957
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