Inventory of Phonemes in the Kazakh Language: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives
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Date
2012
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Suleyman Demirel University
Abstract
The article examines the problem of defining the phonemic inventory of the Kazakh language, which has remained controversial despite more than a century of linguistic research. The study reviews and analyzes the views of prominent Turkologists and Kazakh linguists, including N. I. Ilminsky, V. V. Radlov, P. M. Melioransky, A. Baitursynuly, K. Zhubanov, I. K. Kengesbaev, and other scholars. Special attention is paid to discrepancies in the classification and number of vowel and consonant phonemes proposed in different linguistic traditions and educational sources. The paper highlights the transitional nature of early phonetic descriptions and traces the evolution of phonological approaches from subjective articulatory analysis to experimental and instrumental phonetics. The findings demonstrate a lack of consistency and coordination in defining the phoneme system of the Kazakh language, particularly with regard to vowel quantity, diphthongoids, and borrowed consonants. The article argues that A. Baitursynuly’s phonological conception, based on invariant and variant phonemes, provides one of the most systematic and theoretically grounded models of the Kazakh phonemic system and remains highly relevant for modern phonological studies.
Description
Keywords
Kazakh phonetics, phoneme inventory, vowel system, experimental phonetics, phonological theory
Citation
Z. Badanbekkyzy / Inventory of Phonemes in the Kazakh Language: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives / Suleyman Demirel University/ СДУ хабаршысы, 12(1).