Linguocultural Analysis of Key Concepts in Abai Kunanbaev's "Words of Edification"

Authors

  • Khavaidarova Mehrinisa

    Faculty of Philology, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty 050014, Kazakhstan
  • Abisheva Saule

    Faculty of Philology, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty 050014, Kazakhstan
  • Maurizio Massimo

    Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
  • Tolysbayeva Zhanna

    Faculty of Arts, Kazakh National Academy of Choreography, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
  • Abdikerimova Gulnara

    Faculty of Philology, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty 050014, Kazakhstan
  • Ongarbaeva Aliya

    Faculty of Philology, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty 050014, Kazakhstan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.10949
Received: 8 July 2025 | Revised: 23 July 2025 | Accepted: 15 August 2025 | Published Online: 16 October 2025

Abstract

The article is devoted to the linguacultural analysis of key concepts in the work "Words of Edification" by Abai Kunanbayev—a fundamental text of the Kazakh spiritual culture. The study is aimed at identifying concepts that form the core of the Kazakh linguistic picture of the world, such as akyl (reason), iman (faith), adam (man), kairat (will), gylym (knowledge), namys (dignity), kanagat (moderation) and others. These concepts are considered not only as lexical units, but also as carriers of mental, ethical and cultural meanings. The methodological basis of the study includes conceptual, contextual, comparative and semiotic analysis, as well as the principles of cognitive linguistics and the lexical-semantic approach. Particular attention is paid to the issue of interpreting concepts when translating from Kazakh into Russian, which allows us to identify losses, distortions or rethinking of meanings. The analyzed translations (A. Semenova, L.Slovokhotova, M. Auezova) showed that such concepts as namys, iman and kanagat, when moving to another linguistic and cultural code, lose part of their pragmatic and axiological load.The author emphasizes that the "Words of Edification" represent a kind of "linguocultural code" of the Kazakh nation. They record a holistic system of values, reflecting the national worldview, norms of behavior, ethnic identity and educational guidelines.

Keywords:

Abai Kunanbayev; Words of Edification; Linguacultural Studies; Key Concepts; Akyl; Iman; Adam; Kazakh Mentality

References

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How to Cite

Mehrinisa, K., Saule, A., Massimo, M., Zhanna, T., Gulnara, A., & Aliya, O. (2025). Linguocultural Analysis of Key Concepts in Abai Kunanbaev’s "Words of Edification". Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(10), 1288–1297. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.10949

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 10 (October 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Khavaidarova Mehrinisa, Abisheva Saule, Maurizio Massimo, Tolysbayeva Zhanna, Abdikerimova Gulnara, Ongarbaeva Aliya

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.