The Ethnic Content of the Values Son and Daughter in the Kazakh Culture: Ethnopsycholinguistic Study of Family and Relative Values

Abstract

Purpose. The study is aimed at exploring the ethnic content of values ұл / son and қыз / daughter in the Kazakh language and culture bearers’ linguistic consciousness and determining their place in the system of family and relative values in the Kazakh culture at the level of the state. The problem under study is especially relevant in the context of transformation of Kazakhstani society, heterogeneity of language situation and cultural diversity across regions.
 Methods. The study employed an ethnographic research design, which included a component analysis, an association experiment, and a ranking of values ұл / son and қыз / daughter by the representatives of the Kazakh nation. The study materials comprised linguistic data, obtained from dictionaries and encyclopedias of the Kazakh language, Kazakh paremias, and data of the association experiment. Semantic components of the values were defined and modelling of the association fields was conducted with further categorization of semantic gestalts.
 Results. The analysis of Kazakh dictionaries, encyclopedias and paremias revealed the importance of raising children based on good examples in Kazakh families. A son in Kazakh culture is considered great happiness, luck, and wealth, as he is the successor of his father and the heir of the family house in the future, whereas a daughter is raised in especially strict conditions, though treated as a guest, considered the prosperity in the family, pampered and valued for her beauty and girlish behaviour. The association experiment’s results were in line with the analysis of proverbs, showing the common and different components in the association fields and semantic zones of the values. The ranking of values ұл / son and қыз / daughter confirmed our hypothesis.
 Conclusions. Children are of utmost importance in the Kazakh culture, though the treatment and relation to a son and a daughter, as well as their place in the family differs because of their different roles and responsibilities.