SUMMARY:

This essay is a contribution to the continuing forum “The Prospect of Studying World Russian Languages, Literatures, and Histories.” It explores the complex evolution of the Russian language in Kazakhstan by weaving together the author’s personal family history with broader sociolinguistic analysis. The essay traces how Russian transitioned from a tool of Soviet ideological enforcement and social mobility to a contemporary pragmatic instrument of socialization that coexists uneasily with a rising sense of Kazakh national identity. The author’s anecdotal observations of college students suggest a generational shift toward depoliticizing the language. Russian language is increasingly viewed less as a marker of external loyalty and more as a functional, localized medium – a local Kazakhstani Russian characterized by linguistic hybridity and grammatical shifts.