Could anyone hazard a guess as to whether a child born & raised in Uzbekistan following the demise of the Soviet Union would speak Russian or Uzbek as a primary language?
The CIA World Factbook 2002 entry for Uzbekistan at http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html has this to say about language distribution in the country
I’d say that depends on the ehtnicity of the family. Take for instance the situation in Estonia. The ethnic Estonians speak Estonian and the Russians Russian, although there is a law forcing them to learn Estonian. On top of that all political work must be conducted in Estonian, which gives local councillors in predominantely Russian municipalities trouble as they hardly know the language.
What Floater said, generally. With time, this will tend more toward Uzbek IMNSHO. It will also depend somewhat on what schools are available in the area where the kid lives; I’d imagine this is also tending strongly toward Uzbek, especially in rural areas.
Just curious: why are you asking? I have a certain amount of knowledge in this area, having done a master’s thesis on Soviet bilingual educaiton policy…
Thanks–I’ve actually been informed on another board that the child in question probably speaks Russian.
I’m asking because I’m a huge fan of gymnastics and Oksana Chusovitina, a gymnast who still competes at the age of 27, has a son who has been diagnosed with leukemia. The gymnastics community online has banded together to help fund his treatment; I want to donate but also thought that a couple of children’s books might comfort him while he’s in the hospital.
Chusovitina most likely speaks Russian, as she was a member of the Soviet team for many years, but I wasn’t sure what language her son is being raised on.
Generally, anyone who is from the urban centers will speak Russian as will anyone who has a university education. In the rural areas, more and more people are not learning Russian, but anyone in government or business probably will.
A quick search for Uzbeki newspapers here, turns up 4. All are in English, so there’s a chance your young reader might like that too.
If mom speaks Russian, chances are overwhelmingly strong that the son will, too. I think you’re perfectly safe with Russian-language books. It would be extremely rare for an ethnically Russian kid to be monolingual in Uzbek.