Memoir Literature as a Medium of National Self-Expression: A Linguistic Perspective on the Works of the Alash Movement

Authors

  • Zanggar Karimkhan

    Department of Kazakh Literature, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
  • Dikhan Kamzabekuly

    National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
  • Yeldos Toktarbay

    Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Ankara 06050, Turkey
  • Aibek Kaliyev

    Faculty of Pedagogy and Philology, Arkalyk Pedagogical Institute named after I. Altynsarin, Arkalyk 110300, Kazakhstan
  • Nurbol Bashirov

    Department of Kazakh Literature, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
  • Maktagul Orazbek

    Department of Kazakh Literature, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11626
Received: 14 August 2025 | Revised: 25 September 2025 | Accepted: 26 September 2025 | Published Online: 15 October 2025

Abstract

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 Patterns

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How to Cite

Karimkhan, Z., Kamzabekuly , D., Toktarbay, Y., Kaliyev, A., Bashirov, N., & Orazbek, M. (2025). Memoir Literature as a Medium of National Self-Expression: A Linguistic Perspective on the Works of the Alash Movement. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(10), 1181–1197. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i10.11626

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 10 (October 2025)

Article Type

Review

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Copyright © 2025 Zanggar Karimkhan, Dikhan Kamzabekuly , Yeldos Toktarbay, Aibek Kaliyev, Nurbol Bashirov, Maktagul Orazbek

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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.