Comparative analysis of the change in perception of Russian language in contemporary Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan (Baku-Tashkent case)

Abstract

This thesis employs a comparative approach inspired by the method of Marc Bloch to examine the changing perception of the Russian language as a post-Soviet legacy in the urban contexts of Baku and Tashkent. Drawing on thirty semi-structured interviews with respondents from diverse professional and generational backgrounds, complemented by field observation in both cities, the study investigates how speakers interpret and negotiate the role of Russian across four key domains: media, education, professional life, and everyday language attitudes. The theoretical framework of language ideology, as developed by Silverstein, Woolard, and Irvine and Gal, provides the primary analytical lens, allowing language to be examined not only as a communicative instrument but as a socially embedded construct through which speakers interpret identity, authority, and belonging. Throughout the thesis, I examine how recent geopolitical developments in the post-Soviet region have contributed to the increasing politicisation of attitudes toward Russian, transforming it from a routine communicative resource into a socially and politically charged linguistic form - and how this transformation is experienced, articulated, and resisted differently across the two urban contexts. I argue that the role of Russian in...