Abstrakt
The Yaghnobi language is a minority of North-western Tajikistan. Total number of speakers does not exceed 13,500 people (the number rather sums people who claim to have Yaghnobi origin, true number of Yaghnobi speakers is some 8000 individuals).
All Yaghnobis are bilingual with Tajik as they live in areas with Tajik as a dominant language, even in the Yaghnob valley - the original homeland of the Yaghnobis (btw. there are several Tajik speaking villages even in the Yaghnob valley). Yaghnobi is together with the Pamir languages recognised as a minority language by the Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan, but still it is an endangered language.
As the Yaghnobis were forced to leave their mountainous homeland for Zafarobod in the Hungry Steppe (Mirzachoʻl) in 1970-1971 they became aware of their linguistic and cultural difference from Tajiks and their ethnolinguistic self-awareness appeared. Nowadays the Yaghnobis try to preserve their language, but there is only a little official support to preserve the language and Yaghnobi identity.
The presentation will focus on present situation of the Yaghnobi language and possibilities of its preservation in the future.