ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a comparative analysis of language policy in independent Kazakhstan and Tatarstan, an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation, to provide insight into the role of language in state-building. In the 1990s, both territories enjoyed much sovereignty and had incentives to raise the profile of their titular languages; however, the governments of both regions faced linguistically divided populations. Their respective language policies were thus similar during the 1990s, focusing on symbolic measures. Differences in sovereignty eventually caused Kazakhstani and Tatarstani language policies to diverge: the Russian state has curtailed aspects of Tatarstani policy, whereas Kazakhstan’s strategy began to come to fruition.
