RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN POST-SOVIET CENTRAL ASIA: PERSISTENCE IN PRESTIGE DOMAINS

Abstract

In most countries of the former Soviet Union, the domains of use of the Russian language have severely narrowed since 1991. This is to some extent true in Central Asia, in part because of the radical decrease in the share of Slavs in the population. However, in contrast to such regions as the South Caucasus and Baltic countries, in Central Asia, Russian continues to be widely used in “prestige domains.”