THE TATAR LANGUAGE IN UZBEKISTAN: PECULIARITIES OF INTERFERENCE AND FACTORS OF LANGUAGE SHIFT

The article examines the functioning of the Tatar language in the Republic of Uzbekistan, identifies the specific features of lexical-semantic interference in the local variety of Tatar, and considers the social factors that create the preconditions for language shift. The relevance of the study is determined by the active processes of bilingualism and linguistic assimilation characteristic of the Tatar community in Uzbekistan. The analysis of empirical material shows that lexical-semantic interference is manifested in the following phenomena: (1) changes in word meanings under the influence of formally similar Uzbek words; (2) the replacement of certain Tatar lexemes by widely used Uzbek lexemes common in interethnic communication; (3) frequent code-switching within a single sentence; (4) the use of a broad range of Uzbek culture-specific terms representing semantic lacunae in the Tatar language; and (5) the semantic broadening or narrowing of a number of lexemes. Under conditions in which Uzbek dominates as the state language and Russian functions as a language of interethnic communication, Tatar is preserved primarily as a language of family and everyday communication and as a marker of cultural identity. Its position is shaped by demographic and assimilatory factors, including urbanization and interethnic marriages that contribute to the erosion of national identity, as well as by the limited instrumental demand for the language and partial literacy in Tatar.

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