Webinar «The Kazakh alphabet in the Latin alphabet: an expert`s view»

On March 31, 2021, a web conference «The Kazakh alphabet in the Latin alphabet: an expert`s view» was organized by Teachers of the Turkish language of the Department of Oriental Philology and Translation of the Institute of Philology and Multilingual Education Yesbosynov Yergali, Satbay Gulnaz, Nurzhamal Kospaganbetova.

The event was opened with an introductory speech by the head of the department, Professor of the University K. Kh. Abdrakhmanov. She noted that a constructive discussion of experts on the problems of the Kazakh alphabet based on the Latin alphabet continues in our country. The webinar was continued by the informative report of the Director of the Institute for the Development of the State Language, S. B. Kapalbek on the topic «Difficulties in the transition to the Latin alphabet and ways to solve it». B. S. Kapalbek in his speeches noted that the deadline for submitting the final version of the new Kazakh alphabet was stretched in time due to the fact that all these options were not taken seriously by the public. According to the speaker, this was influenced, among other things, by the non-acceptance of these novelties by the scientists themselves. Professor of the Department of Kazakh Language and Literature named after S. S. Kirabayev K. S. Kalybayeva made a report «White spots in the theory of Kazakh writing». She noted that the so-called «new variants» of the Kazakh Latin alphabet are based on the orthoepic, phonomorphological and elementary spelling norms of the Russian language, and therefore, there is a need to consider going beyond such a stereotypical approach. Dr. Osman Kabadayy in his report "Some thoughts about the Latin Kazakh alphabet" focused on the fact that Kazakhstan has the opportunity to act freely, no matter what option it takes. The speaker stressed that such fundamental changes as the language reform also affect the economic well-being of the country, and in this regard, the country has the financial and material strength to successfully solve any problems.

The final speech was delivered to the chief researcher of the Department of Phonetics of the Institute of Linguistics named after A. Baitursynuly, Alimkhan Zhunusbek. Alimkhan Zhunusbek, a great expert of Kazakh phonetics and graphics, emphasized the special significance of such meetings, the relevance of thematic and scientific reports. He noted that any version of the Kazakh Latin alphabet in many cases became the subject of inappropriate and formal discussions, which led to such frequent changes. This was also influenced by the boilerplate-bureaucratic approach to the downside. He stressed that the webinar is proof that the teaching staff of Abai KazNPU, which has an audience of many thousands attaches great importance to this issue.

The webinar was attended by the teacher of Turkology, Professor Mayra Zhunusova, Yersayyn Moldasanov, arabic language senior teacher Raya Orazova, chinese language senior teacher Assel Almabekova also other teachers and students undergraduates. The representative of the Department of Turksoy of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Dr. Selenay Koshumju, was present. The moderator of the webinar was E. Z. Esbosynov. Technical support was provided by the master`s student-teacher N. H. Kospaganbetova. The relevance and importance of the regular organization of such meetings was emphasized at the end of the webinar.