On the process of standardization in an unwritten language (based on the example of the Shughnani language)

Abstract

The article analyses graphic and orthographic variability, as well as issues concerning the standardization process, in an unwritten Pamir language – Shughnani. The source data include a corpus of published and archival Shughnani texts of the 19th–21st centuries and their translation into Russian, as well as dictionaries, and field materials resulting from the author’s field research. We systematise linguistic data by applying an in-depth comparative method, in particular, comparative analysis of culturally marked units, as well as component analysis. There exist no state-institutional structures for regulating social speech activity, and thus no ability to solve theoretical and practical issues in terms of public policy through measures taken in the field of speech culture and language. This situation incentivizes the creation of a written tradition with a unified normative writing system, the compilation of Shughnani-Tajik-Russian, etc. dictionaries reflecting key national vocabulary, and the publication of normative grammars. It also encourages the creation of prose literature, and on this basis, the development of a literary standard. These measures serve to improve the sociolinguistic status of the language and ensure its preservation.