CROSSBORDER DIALECT DIFFERENCES AND SPEAKERS PERCEPTIONS: KAZAKH LANGUAGE IN CHINA AND KAZAKHSTAN
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Date
2024
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Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities
Abstract
The Kazakh language is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch and an official
language of Kazakhstan with more varieties spoken by minorities in other countries. My research
focuses on one of such Kazakh varieties spoken in China, with the fieldwork done among the
ethnic Kazakhs born in the Ili region of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
My thesis aims to identify the linguistic differences between the Kazakh spoken in China
and Kazakhstan, and investigate the perceptions and attitudes of ethnic Kazakhs born in China
towards the Kazakh language variations. For that, the study first contrasts phonetic, lexical, and
semantic differences in the spoken Kazakh in China and Kazakhstan based on the audio files
recorded during the fieldwork. Even though similarities exist between spoken Kazakh in China
and regions of Kazakhstan, distinct lexical and dialectical differences are evident based on the
results of my work.
Then based on the interviews conducted with the ethnic Kazakhs from China, my study
reveals attitudes towards the Kazakh language varieties where language ideologies were detected
regarding language purity. It was shown how semiotic processes of language ideologies further
influence the perceptions of the dialect borders in the minds of the speakers
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Type of access: Open
Citation
Bizhanova, M. (2024). Crossborder dialect differences and speakers Perceptions: Kazakh language in China and Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities