Aspectuality and Nativeness in Kazakh: Exploring the Reversal Language Shift Within a Bilingual Context of Kazakhstan

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: Under Soviet rule, established Russian-based bilingualism triggered language shift and attrition in indigenous languages, particularly in L1 Kazakh. This study investigates the revitalisation of Kazakh in multilingual Kazakhstan following its independence in 1991. It focuses on speakers whose L1 Kazakh was replaced by L1 Russian during their socialisation, resulting in a loss of nativeness in their L1 Kazakh and rendering it their heritage language. The main research question is how the current reversing language shift manifests in a core grammatical domain – aspectuality – particularly regarding resultativity, a salient marker of nativeness with symbolic significance in language revival. Design/Methodology/Approach: We adopted a quantitative, cross-sectional design, comparing usage patterns of aspectuality across three speaker groups (one control, two experimental): L1 Kazakh speakers ( n = 32), L1 Russian speakers ( n = 30), and heritage Kazakh speakers whose L1 was replaced by Russian ( n = 33). Targeted survey tasks assessed proficiency in resultativity, allowing examination of how bilingual experience and previous language shift influence core grammatical knowledge. Data and Analysis: When analysing our corpus, we evaluated the stability and variability of aspectual marking in each group. We examined whether, and in what ways, reversing language shift from Russian to Kazakh emerges in this core grammatical domain. Comparative analyses across three groups allowed assessment of the extent of language revival. Findings/Conclusions: The results indicate that aspectuality reliably reflects nativeness: L1 Kazakh speakers show greater stability in aspectual marking, whereas heritage Kazakh speakers with dominant Russian display increased variability, reflecting ongoing influence of dominant Russian. However, when compared with L1 Russian speakers with L2 Kazakh, heritage Kazakh speakers demonstrate a higher index of nativeness in use of Kazakh aspectuality. From a cross-linguistic perspective, as aspectuality is expressed in fundamentally different ways in Kazakh and Russian, languages with different typological profiles, contact with Russian provides no structural support for maintaining this category in Kazakh. Originality: This study contributes novel evidence to the underexplored area of post-Soviet language revival, highlighting the role of aspectuality as a grammatical marker of nativeness. Unlike previous mostly sociolinguistic research on postcolonial language revival, this study focuses on the linguistic effects of Russian dominance on a particular indigenous language – Kazakh. Significance/Implications: The findings advance theoretical understanding of language revival, nativeness, and sustainable linguistic effect of post-imperial bilingualism. They offer a foundation for future research on heritage indigenous languages in post-imperial contexts, in particular, on the territory of the former USSR. In addition, the study contributes to comparative research on aspectuality in typologically different languages.