The Uzbek Language before the National Reform: A New Approach to Sart Ethnolinguistic Identity Based on the Late Chagatai Turkic Literature

Following the end of the Governorate of Russian Turkistan (1867-1917), the Sart, who represented the majority of the local population, were absorbed by the new Uzbek nation with the establishment of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. After only a year, Abdullah Qadiri published the first modern novel in the Uzbek language, “Bygone Days” (1925), and soon after released “Scorpion from the Altar” (1928), which decried the regime of Khudayar Khan and his Sart officialdom. However, it is difficult to fully assess the 19th century, which laid the foundations of the modern Uzbek language and national identity, from the perspective of a radical Jadid-socialist view. Therefore, this research intends to re-evaluate the ethnolinguistic identity of Sart writers through their literary achievements. Firstly, it discusses the origin of the words “Sart” and “Tajik” to clarify the ethnolinguistic distinction between Sarts and the other Turkic peoples. Finally, it sheds new light on the legacy of Sart literature still visible in modern Uzbek literature.