Multilingualism, nation branding, and the ownership of English in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Abstract This study examines the ownership of English and linguistic (in)security of multilingual English learners in two post‐Soviet nation‐states. Using the chronotopic and scalar analysis of discourse, I examine students’ ideologies of English vis‐à‐vis their linguistic repertoires in the context of national imaginary and globalization. I utilize the concept of ‘nation branding’ to trace the relationship between language ideologies and broader sociopolitical factors, including neoliberalism. The analysis of 60 individual student interviews revealed that the state‐circulated nation‐branding discourse is a powerful tool for instilling the sense of linguistic ownership. The findings showed that students in Uzbekistan regard English as opportunistic and more valuable in the global market than their local languages. In contrast, students in Kazakhstan see all of their languages including English as pivotal in enacting trilingual identity at local, national, and global scales.