Basic Color Terms in the Kazakh Language

Saule Abdramanova

doi:10.1177/2158244017714829

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of basic color terms and reviews the existing publications on color terms, including in the Kazakh language. The literature in Kazakhstani linguistics on basic color terms in Kazakh has mostly an empirical character, and it relies on the authors’ personal perceptions and examples from language—fiction, dictionaries, proverbs, and idioms. Most scholars identified the following inventory of basic color terms in Kazakh: ақ “white,” қара “black,” қызыл “red,” көк “blue,” сары “yellow,” and ала “multicolored.” The aim of the present article is to elaborate a list of basic color terms in the Kazakh language through conducting an experiment among Kazakh native speakers. The experiment was held among Kazakh young people to find out which color terms they name and how they order them. The results of the experiment showed that there is some difference in the way Kazakh scholars define and contemporary young Kazakhs name basic color terms. The young native speakers of Kazakh named eleven colors, such as Ақ (white), Қара (black), Сары (yellow), Жасыл (green), Қызыл (red), Көк (blue), Қоңыр (brown), Сүр (gray), Көгілдір (pale blue), Қызғылт (pink), and Күлгін (purple).

Highlights

The aim of this article is to investigate basic color terms (BCTs) in the Kazakh language
It should be noted that in the ancient times, the Kazakhs did not differentiate between “dark blue” and “light blue”— one word Көк “blue” was applied to denominate all tones of the sky; for a long time, the Kazakhs did not differentiate between “blue” and “green,” the color term kөk “blue” was applied to denote both of them. This phenomenon is typical to Turkic languages (Hauenschild, 2012; Kaidar, 2013; Kononov, 1978), and in the Kazakh language, it justifies the existence of a wide range of semantic meanings of the color term Көк “blue”: “dark blue,” “light blue,” “azure,” “light green,” “green,” “greenery,” “gray,” “the sky,” and so on (Kononov, 1978)
The research done by Uusküla (2008), for example, confirmed the universal nature of basic colors terms in the Czech language; she held experiments among 52 native speakers, who performed two tasks: they wrote a list of colors and named colors “tiles.” The analysis showed that there are 11 BCTs in Czech

Summary

Introduction

The aim of this article is to investigate basic color terms (BCTs) in the Kazakh language. It should be noted that in the ancient times, the Kazakhs did not differentiate between “dark blue” and “light blue”— one word Көк “blue” was applied to denominate all tones of the sky; for a long time, the Kazakhs did not differentiate between “blue” and “green,” the color term kөk “blue” was applied to denote both of them This phenomenon is typical to Turkic languages (Hauenschild, 2012; Kaidar, 2013; Kononov, 1978), and in the Kazakh language, it justifies the existence of a wide range of semantic meanings of the color term Көк “blue”: “dark blue,” “light blue,” “azure,” “light green,” “green,” “greenery,” “gray,” “the sky,” and so on (Kononov, 1978). A later created color denomination Жасыл [žasїl] “green” was formed by a combination of the adjective Жас [žas] “young” and a suffix -ыл [їl], analogical to Қызыл [ķїzїl] “red” (Қыз [ķїz] “a girl”)

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Conclusion