Memoir Literature as a Medium of National Self-Expression: A Linguistic Perspective on the Works of the Alash Movement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11626Abstract
This article conducts a linguistic and discourse-oriented analysis of memoirs authored by leaders of the early twentieth century Alash movement in Kazakhstan. Unlike prior studies that emphasize the historical or political value of memoirs, this research foregrounds them as sites of linguistic negotiation, where form and expression actively shape meaning. The study applies Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to examine four interrelated dimensions: lexical choices (including culturally salient terms and borrowings from Russian, Arabic, and Persian), morphological and syntactic structures (nominalization, evidentiality, and sentence complexity), pragmatic strategies (speech acts, deixis, politeness), and narrative organization (shifts between personal and collective voices, intertextuality with oral traditions). Particular attention is paid to hybridity as a discourse strategy, whereby memoirs blend oral heritage, literary Kazakh, and multilingual influences to construct cultural identity. The findings demonstrate that language in these texts functions not merely as a transparent medium of recollection but as a performative resource for preserving memory, asserting cultural continuity, and negotiating authority. In doing so, the memoirs emerge as a linguistic archive that embodies the interplay of tradition and modernity, individual voice and collective identity, resilience and hybridity.
Keywords:
Alash Movement, Kazakh Memoirs, Critical Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Linguistic Hybridity, Lexical Borrowing, Morphological Structures, Syntactic PatternsReferences
[1] Mukanov, S., 1957. School Years. Kazgoslitizdat: Almaty, Kazakhstan. (in Russian)
[2] Tulegenova, A., 2010. Alash Orda Writings: Language and Style. Foliant: Astana, Kazakhstan. (in Uzbek)
[3] Anderson, B., 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso: London, UK.
[4] Fairclough, N., 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Longman: London, UK.
[5] Halliday, M.A.K., 1994. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. Hodder Arnold: London, UK.
[6] Bakhtin, M.M., 1981. The Dialogic Imagination. University of Texas Press: Austin, TX, USA.
[7] Baitursynuly, A., 2005. Works. Ölkė: Almaty, Kazakhstan. (in Kazakh)
[8] Dulatov, M., 2025. Collected Writings. Ölkė: Almaty, Kazakhstan. (in Kazakh)
[9] Bokeikhan, A., 2024. Archival Digital Collection (150th Anniversary Edition). Central State Archive of Kazakhstan: Astana, Kazakhstan. (in Kazakh)
[10] Smith, A.D., 1991. National Identity. Penguin Books: London, UK.
[11] Said, E.W., 1978. Orientalism. Penguin Books: London, UK.
[12] Dukeyev, B., Kasymov, S., Sarsembina, K., 2025. Oral Memories: Inter-Generational Remembrance of the 1931–1933 Kazakh Famine. Globalizations. 22(1), 1–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2025.2485790
[13] Smagulova, K., 2023. Decolonial Debates on Identity Within Kazakh Postcolonial Reality. Available from: https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf342/kamila-smagulova.pdf (1 August 2025).
[14] Kossyn, M., 2024. Genealogy of Being in Postcolonial Kazakh Culture: Re-Reading the Words of Edification. Comparative Literature: East & West. 8(2), 116–127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/25723618.2024.2433842
[15] Kudaibergenova, D.T., 2017. “My Silk Road to You”: Re-Imagining Routes, Roads, and Geography in Contemporary Art of Central Asia. Journal of Eurasian Studies. 8(1), 31–43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euras.2016.11.007
[16] Abdikadirova, A.Z., 2021. The Oral History of the Kazakhs — The Spiritual Heritage of the People. Bulletin of the Karaganda University. Philology Series. 103(1), 45–52.
[17] Smagulova, J., 2008. Language Policies of Kazakhization and Their Influence on Language Attitudes and Use. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 11(3–4), 440–475. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050802148798
[18] Bayetova, N., Robertson, D.L., 2025. Kazakhstan’s Nationalistic Globalism: Paradox, Language, and Higher Education. Power and Education. 17(1), 67–80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17577438231225126
[19] Beisenova, M., Kenzhetaeva, G., Beysembaeva, G., et al. 2025. Communicative and Pragmatic Functioning of Anglicisms in Kazakh Mass Media Discourse. Forum for Linguistic Studies. 11(1), 33–47.
[20] Tlostanova, M., 2017. Postcolonialism and Postsocialism in Fiction and Art: Resistance and Re-Existence. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, Switzerland. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48445-7
[21] Kudaibergenova, D.T., 2019. Rewriting the Nation in Kazakhstan: The Politics of the President’s Personality Cult. Lexington Books: Lanham, MD, USA.
[22] Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., Tiffin, H., 2013. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts, 3rd ed. Routledge: London, UK. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/978023777855
[23] McGuire, G., 2021. Qız Jibek and the Politics of Genre in Kazakh Oral Literature. Oral Tradition. 35(1), 3–30.
[24] Bokeikhan, A., 2021. Alikhan Bokeikhan. Complete Collection of His Works in 9 Volumes. Alash Publishing House: Astana, Kazakhstan. (in Russian)
[25] Bourdieu, P., 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, USA.
[26] Heller, M., 2011. Paths to Post-Nationalism: A Critical Ethnography of Language and Identity. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA.
[27] Ferguson, C.A., 1994. Dialect, Register, and Genre: Working Assumptions About Conventionalized Forms of Speech. In: Biber, D., Finegan, E. (eds.). Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Register. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA. pp. 15–30.
[28] Gee, J.P., 2014. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method, 4th ed. Routledge: London, UK. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315819679
[29] Bhabha, H., 1994. The Location of Culture. Routledge: London, UK.
[30] Rak, J., 2013. Boom!: Manufacturing Memoirs for the Popular Market. Wilfrid Laurier University Press: Ontario, Canada.
[31] Spivak, G.C., 1988. Can the Subaltern Speak? In: Nelson, C., Grossberg, L. (eds.). Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. University of Illinois Press: Urbana, IL, USA. pp. 271–313.
[32] Kudaibergenova, D.T., 2013. “Imagining Community” in Soviet Kazakhstan: An Historical Analysis of Narrative on Nationalism in Kazakh/Soviet Literature. Nationalities Papers, 41(5), 839–854. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2013.775115
[33] Genette, G., 1980. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, NY, USA.
[34] Lakoff, G., Johnson, M., 1980. Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, IL, USA.
[35] Myers-Scotton, C., 1993. Social Motivations for Codeswitching: Evidence from Africa. Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, NY, USA.
[36] Fishman, J.A., 2006. Do Not Leave Your Language Alone: The Hidden Status Agendas within Corpus Planning in Language Policy, 1st ed. Routledge: New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203825808
[37] Bek, A., 1960. Volokolamsk Highway. Foreign Language Press: Paris, France.
[38] Baitursynuly, A., 2003. The Tool of Language. "Sanat" Publishing House: Almaty, Kazakhstan. (in Kazakh)
Downloads
Issue
Article Type
License
Copyright © 2025 Zanggar Karimkhan, Dikhan Kamzabekuly, Yeldos Toktarbay, Aibek Kaliyev, Nurbol Bashirov, Maktagul Orazbek

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


Zanggar Karimkhan 
