CODE-SWITCHING AT MOMENTS OF AUTHORITY: WHEN UZBEK PUBLIC RELATIONS TURNS TO ENGLISH
Keywords:
code-switching, authority discourse, Uzbek PR, English in public communication, linguistic landscape, institutional pragmaticsAbstract
In contemporary Uzbekistan, English increasingly appears in public-facing institutional discourse – understood here as language produced by official organizations to inform, regulate, and manage public behavior, particularly at moments requiring authority, compliance, or procedural clarity. This article investigates code-switching into English in Uzbek public relations (PR) discourse, focusing on three high-control genres: announcements, policies, and warnings. Using a pilot corpus of official digital communications from government e-services, higher education institutions, state websites, and transport authorities, the study demonstrates that English insertions are strategically used at moments of authority: deadlines, restrictions, instructions, and alerts – rather than randomly or decoratively. The findings suggest that English functions as a pragmatic authority marker, indexing modernity, institutional legitimacy, and reduced ambiguity in governance communication. The article contributes to research on code-switching, linguistic landscape, and institutional discourse in post-Soviet multilingual contexts.
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Corpus and data sources
Tashkent University of Information Technologies (TATU). Official Telegram Channel. (2023–2025).
https://t.me/s/tuituz_official
Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan. my.gov.uz Official Telegram Channel. (2023–2025).
Unified Portal of Interactive Public Services of the Republic of Uzbekistan (my.gov.uz).
National Institute of Metrology of Uzbekistan (Uzstandard System). Official announcements.
https://nim.uz/2025/05/20/attention-announcement-2/
Parliament of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Virtual Reception Website.
https://parliament.gov.uz/requests
Uzbekistan Airways. Press Center – Official Announcements.
https://www.uzairways.com/en/press-center/news
Uzbekistan Airways. Official Website.
