THE ETHNOCULTURAL IDENTITY OF THE WORD “QOBYZ”

Language is not merely a means of communication but also a repository of the accumulated knowledge and experience of a people, their spiritual essence, value system, and philosophical worldview. Through language, a nation’s perception of the world and its rich heritage handed down from past generations are revealed. In this respect, the vocabulary and grammatical system of a language serve as the primary channel for transmitting experience, patterns of thought, andobservations from one generation to the next. The lexical layer, in particular, plays a crucial role as it embodies ethnocultural content. Among these are the names of musical instruments, which reflect national identity. To uncover the ethnocultural essence of the concept qobyz, it is essential to examine it in inseparable connection with the history, daily life, and worldview of the people, as well as to consider it as a lexical group shaping the semantic space of the native language. While Kazakh linguistics has addressed the meaning, etymology, and cognitive associations of ethnocultural vocabulary, as well as the relationship between ethnographic units and culture, the ethnocultural representation of national musical instruments has not been sufficiently explored. This study focuses on defining the vitality of language through the concept of the qobyz, which is of both scholarly and practical relevance. The central aim is to investigate the contemporary associative image of the qobyz within the worldview of the Kazakh people. By analyzing ethnocultural notions associated with the term, the study seeks to deepen the understanding of the unity of language and nation, to assess the preservation of the national code, and to highlight the role of the native language in maintaining cultural distinctiveness in the context of globalization. The collective consciousness related to the qobyz was identified using free association and survey methods. The findings demonstrated that, in the perception of youth, musical instruments are closely tied to the people’s way of life and traditions. This underscores the role of language in preserving ethnic identity and transmitting sacred concepts of the Kazakh worldview to future generations. The data were obtained by employing the word qobyz as an associative stimulus.