THE CONCEPT OF “SPACE” IN THE KAZAKH WORLDVIEW

The article is devoted to the study of the concept of space in the worldview of the Kazakhs. Space, as a TILTANYM №4 (96) 2024 81 universal category of human thought characteristic of all ethnic groups and eras, is examined across various fields of scientific knowledge such as mathematics, physics, geography, philosophy, and linguistics. The concept of space in the article is analyzed within the consciousness of Turkic peoples, particularly in the mentality of the Kazakhs, over an extended historical period. The purpose of the article is to explore the peculiarities of how space is perceived and understood by the Kazakh people through the analysis of a literary work. The analysis is based on Ilyas Yesenberlin’s trilogy ”Nomads”, where attention is drawn to key lexical markers of Turkic nomadic culture, such as “steppe,” “land,” and “road” (“path”). The semantic analysis of these lexical markers reveals their polysemy, showcasing various aspects of how space is understood in the consciousness of the Kazakh people. Some of these markers contain sememes that express dynamism, movement, and the vastness of space. As a result of the study, it was concluded that in the Kazakh worldview, space represents a fundamental universal category closely associated with the traditional nomadic way of life and movement through space, which is undoubtedly shaped by the historical lifestyle of the Kazakhs and their habitation in the vast steppe.