LANGUAGE CONTACTS IN KAZAKHSTAN: THE LANGUAGE OF MULTILINGUAL YOUTH

Abstract

This article examines the condition of language contacts in Kazakhstan. In particular, the issue of language contacts in higher educational institutions, where the main disciplines related to the majors in the country are taught in English. Now the number of such educational institutions is growing. In order to predict the occurrence of language contacts in these institutions, the degree of their influence on each other in the future, first of all, a study and analysis of students’ conversations in real situations were carried out.

Research questions are: What languages do students want to use in different situations, and how do different situations affect their language choices? How and in what direction does the use of languages change during a conversation? The main goal of the study is to determine the functions of the Kazakh, Russian and English languages, which are currently widely used in Kazakhstan. Moreover, the study aims to find out how (how often) and where Kazakhs who graduated from Kazakh schools can use these languages. By responding to these questions, the author analyzes the reasons why young people use different languages in different situations.