Kazakhstan’s president has called for an overhaul of the rules governing written Kazakh, setting the end of 2027 as the deadline for completing the work. Speaking at the tenth congress of the International Qazaq Tili Society on November 10, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said spelling conventions should be reviewed and organized into a consistent framework, and that dictionaries—including the spelling dictionary—need updating. The announcement is a direction to carry out work, not the publication or formal approval of a new dictionary. The distinction matters because the president identified a gap between dictionaries that have appeared over the decades and the state’s formal endorsement of a common standard. An agreed set of spelling conventions can shape how institutions write, teach and communicate. But Tuesday’s speech did not supply a completed replacement volume, its text or an implementation timetable beyond the end-of-2027 target.
A deadline for work that has not yet been completed
In remarks published by the presidential administration, Akorda, Tokayev called for spelling rules to be reconsidered and systematized. He placed that task within a broader appeal for uniform usage of Kazakh words and terminology. He said inconsistencies in the way some words, concepts and terms are used create confusion. The proposed response is to establish more consistent norms, not simply to announce a different title for an existing reference work.
The president also said all dictionaries should be updated, specifically including the spelling dictionary. His instruction to finish the work by the end of the following year, made in November 2026, points to December 2027. It is a target for the standardization effort; the public speech does not establish a dated release schedule for any individual dictionary or state that a new edition has already acquired binding force.
Sources: Address at the tenth congress of the International Qazaq Tili Society · Speech at the tenth congress (Kazakh version) · Tokayev orders update of Kazakh spelling dictionary
Why the year 1983 is central to the announcement
Tokayev traced the formal status of the spelling dictionary back to the Soviet period. According to his speech, the Kazakh spelling dictionary endorsed by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was issued in 1983. Other dictionaries were published afterward, he said, but none received approval at the state level or had legal force. That is the president’s account of the approval history, as recorded in the official speech—not an independent examination here of the original 1983 decree or all subsequent publications.
His remarks put two questions side by side: what scholars and publishers have produced, and which reference the state has formally endorsed. They are not identical. A book’s existence does not by itself settle whether it has been adopted as an official normative source. Equally, the speech does not say that every spelling found in books since 1983 is invalid for everyday communication. A future decision on formal standards would have to be evaluated on its actual terms once published.
Sources: Address at the tenth congress of the International Qazaq Tili Society · Speech at the tenth congress (Kazakh version)
Language policy as an institutional question
The address was delivered at the tenth Kurultai, or congress, of the International Qazaq Tili Society. Akorda identifies the society as an organization founded in 1989 and involved in initiatives to strengthen the position of the state language. Tokayev framed language as a matter of national significance and urged a systematic approach to its development. His emphasis on consistency means the decision has an institutional dimension extending beyond the publishing of dictionaries.
Common spelling conventions can matter for documents, classrooms, reference materials and digital texts. That describes the kinds of activities potentially affected by a common standard, rather than a claim that specific agencies have already changed their procedures. Neither the text of a new orthographic code nor a detailed division of responsibilities among ministries, universities and dictionary editors was set out in the cited portion of the address. Those details remain to be established through subsequent decisions.
Sources: Address at the tenth congress of the International Qazaq Tili Society · Speech at the tenth congress (Kazakh version)
A broader effort to develop Kazakh-language resources
The speech followed a November 9 meeting between Tokayev and Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, chairman of the International Qazaq Tili Society. Akorda said the organization was pursuing projects in Kazakh teaching methods, the supply of Kazakh-language content and the use of the language in new technologies. That earlier meeting provides a context for the president’s emphasis on research and language development, but Akorda’s report of it did not itself announce the spelling-dictionary instruction.
At the congress, Tokayev also stressed the importance of scientific work in Kazakh and the role of universities. The overlap between language resources and modern technology helps explain why consistency might become more consequential across different forms of communication. It would, however, go beyond the evidence to say that any particular technology project has been assigned to produce or enforce the forthcoming spelling rules. Such a connection has not been established by the cited announcements.
Sources: Address at the tenth congress of the International Qazaq Tili Society · Speech at the tenth congress (Kazakh version) · The Head of State Received Rauan Kenzhekhanuly
What would make the directive measurable
The next meaningful evidence will be the publication of an official process: who is responsible for drafting or reviewing the rules, how linguistic experts are consulted, what counts as completion by December 2027, and how any finished reference is approved. Those are open questions, not completed measures. A finalized document and an official approval decision would be stronger evidence of a changed standard than the president’s instruction alone.
For now, the record is clear in its limits. Kazakhstan’s president has publicly set a deadline and identified the need to revise spelling norms and dictionaries. He has also stated why a 1983 officially endorsed dictionary remains important to the discussion. Whether the work yields a new approved reference, when it becomes available and how it will be applied are developments that still have to occur.
Sources: Address at the tenth congress of the International Qazaq Tili Society · Speech at the tenth congress (Kazakh version)
