The Kazakh Alphabet Switch: A Nation’s Identity

Imagine waking up one day to find that the letters you use to read, write, and navigate the world have fundamentally changed. The shape of the words on street signs, the characters on your keyboard, and the script in your favorite book—all different. For the nearly 20 million people of Kazakhstan, this is not a thought experiment; it’s a national reality in the making. The country is in the midst of a monumental transition from a Cyrillic-based script to a Latin one, a process that is as much about linguistic pragmatism as it is about national identity.

A Script Through Time: Kazakhstan’s Alphabetical Journey

To understand the current switch, we must look back. The Kazakh language hasn’t always been written in Cyrillic. Over the centuries, it has worn several alphabetic coats, each reflecting a major geopolitical and cultural shift:

• Old Turkic Runes: The earliest ancestors of the Kazakh language were recorded in a runic script, connecting them to a shared ancient Turkic heritage.
• Arabic Script: With the arrival of Islam in the region around the 10th century, an adapted Arabic script became the standard. It was used for over 900 years, deeply embedding itself in the nation’s religious and literary culture.
• The First Latin Alphabet (Jañalif): In 1929, as part of a Soviet-wide initiative to “modernize” and unify the Turkic peoples of the USSR, a Latin-based alphabet was introduced. This was also a strategic move to sever ties with the Islamic, Arabic-script-using world.
• Cyrillic Script: The Latin experiment was short-lived. In 1940, Moscow reversed course and imposed a modified Cyrillic alphabet on Kazakhstan and other Soviet republics. This was a classic tool of Soviet power, designed to Russify non-Russian populations and isolate them from their Turkic brethren in countries like Turkey, who had famously adopted a Latin script in 1928.

For over 80 years, this Cyrillic script has been the official writing system, shaping the education and daily life of several generations of Kazakhs.

Why Change Now? The Political and Cultural Drivers

The decision to switch back to a Latin-based alphabet, formally initiated by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2017, is a profound statement. It’s a multi-layered move driven by a desire to reclaim and reshape Kazakh identity in the post-Soviet era.

First and foremost, it is a symbolic act of decolonization and de-Russification. By shedding the Cyrillic script, Kazakhstan is distancing itself from its Soviet past and Russia’s continuing sphere of influence. It’s a declaration of national sovereignty written in the very letters of its language.

Second, the switch is about modernization and globalization. The Latin alphabet is the lingua franca of the digital world, technology, and international business. Adopting it is seen as a practical step to better integrate Kazakhstan into the global economy and make the language more accessible to foreigners.

Finally, there is a powerful element of pan-Turkic reconnection. Other major Turkic nations like Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan have all adopted Latin scripts. By making the switch, Kazakhstan aims to foster closer cultural and linguistic ties within the Turkic world, reinforcing a shared heritage that was deliberately fractured during the Soviet period.

The Quest for the Perfect Alphabet: A Linguistic Puzzle

Changing an alphabet isn’t as simple as swapping out letters. The real challenge lies in orthography: creating a writing system that accurately represents the sounds of the language while being practical for daily use. Kazakh has several unique sounds not found in English, which were handled by specific Cyrillic letters like Ә (ä), Ғ (gh), Қ (q), Ң (ng), Ө (ö), Ұ (ū), Ү (ü), and І (ı).

How to represent these in Latin? This question has sparked intense debate and led to several proposed alphabets:

• The 2017 “Apostrophe” Version: The first official proposal used apostrophes to modify letters. For example, the Cyrillic ‘Ш’ (sh) became ‘S”, and ‘Ч’ (ch) became ‘C”. This version was met with widespread public ridicule. It was visually clumsy and a digital nightmare. Typing a simple word like сәбіз (säbiz, carrot) became the awkward sa’biz, and online, it was mocked with memes showing “s’is’ kebab” for shashlik.
• The 2018 “Accent” Version: Learning from the backlash, a new version was proposed using acute accents (´). The letter ‘Ш’ became ‘Sh’, but others like ‘Ә’ became ‘Á’. This was an improvement but still faced criticism for its aesthetic and typographic inconsistencies.
• The 2021 “Diacritics” Version: The current, most favored proposal was developed by linguists at the Akhmet Baitursynuly Institute of Linguistics. It draws heavily from the “one sound, one letter” principle and the experience of other Turkic languages. It uses a system of diacritics like the umlaut (¨), breve (˘), and cedilla (¸) to represent unique Kazakh sounds: Ä (Ә), Ğ (Ғ), Ñ (Ң), Ö (Ө), Ü (Ү), Ş (Ш). This version is considered far more elegant, phonetically consistent, and user-friendly.

This linguistic tug-of-war highlights the difficulty of balancing phonetic precision with digital convenience and cultural acceptance. The goal is an alphabet that feels authentically Kazakh, not like a clumsy imitation of English or a purely academic exercise.

The Ripple Effect: Practical and Technological Hurdles

The decision to switch is one thing; implementation is another. The logistical challenge is staggering. The transition, slated for completion by 2031, affects every facet of society:

• Education: All textbooks, from first-grade readers to university-level physics books, must be rewritten and reprinted. An entire nation of teachers must be retrained to teach the new script.
• Bureaucracy: Every official document—passports, birth certificates, laws, and property deeds—needs to be updated. All street signs, public notices, and government websites must be replaced.
• Technology: Keyboard layouts for computers and smartphones need to be standardized and rolled out. Operating systems, software, and fonts must be updated to properly support the new characters. This is a massive undertaking for developers and tech companies.
• The Generational Divide: While younger Kazakhs, already exposed to English and the Latin script online, may adapt quickly, older generations who have known only Cyrillic face the risk of becoming functionally illiterate in their own language. Bridging this gap is a major social challenge.

Writing a New National Identity

At its heart, the Kazakh alphabet switch is a profound act of nation-building. An alphabet is not just a set of symbols; it’s a vessel for culture, history, and a shared worldview. By choosing its script, Kazakhstan is actively defining what it means to be Kazakh in the 21st century: modern, sovereign, globally connected, and proud of its Turkic roots.

The road ahead is long and fraught with challenges—financial costs, logistical nightmares, and social friction. Yet, it remains one of the most compelling linguistic transformations of our time. It’s a live experiment in how a nation can rewrite its future, one letter at a time.