New Ideologemes In Publicistic Discourse Of Modern Kazakhstan

Abstract

The article is devoted to the description of new ideologemes ("Ruhani zhangyru"," The Land of the Great steppe") functioning in the political (publicistic) discourse of modern Kazakhstan, identifying conceptual meanings and characterizing the internal structure of ideologemes. The authors of the article put forward the thesis that the ideologeme, being a new one during some period of time, gradually merges into the active lexical fund, replenishes it and functions, while it is able to “grow” with new meanings, change / vary its meaning, thereby forming an ideological space and affecting the consciousness of native speakers. Analysis of "secondary" political texts (responses, reviews, comments) published in journals and newspaper articles, interviews, and posts in social networks revealed the features of the national conceptual sphere, actual concepts in the minds of speakers of different languages of Kazakhstani people who also speak the Russian language. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of various connotations, the semantic enrichment of new ideologemes, their active functioning in Kazakhstan’s political discourse. The result of the conceptual analysis has shown that new ideologemes have a huge impact on the mass consciousness of Kazakhstanis. The understanding of the ideologemes analyzed by the citizens of Kazakhstan contributes to the replenishment and updating of the ideological picture of the world.

Keywords: Ideologemepolitical discoursepublicistic discoursepublic consciousnesspresidential discourse

Introduction

In recent years, there has been an active interest in the research of political discourse conducted by scientists on the material of various sources such as speeches and works of political figures, newspaper publications, mass media, etc.

  • In modern Kazakhstan, the issues of formation of state ideology and modernization of public consciousness are of particular relevance. This was facilitated by the publications in different years in a number of articles and messages of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev – "The third modernization of Kazakhstan: global competitiveness" ( 2017a), "A view to the future: modernization of public consciousness" ( Nazarbayev, 2017b), "New opportunities for development in the conditions of the fourth industrial revolution" ( Nazarbayev, 2018a), "Growth of welfare of Kazakhstanis: increasing income and quality of life" (( Nazarbayev, 2018b), "Seven faces of the great steppe" (( Nazarbayev, 2018c), etc. In this regard, the problems of studying the ideological space, the ideological picture of the world, and the ideological corpus of the Russian language in Kazakhstan are brought to the fore, which also creates conditions for the emergence and entry into the active vocabulary fund of new lexical units and ideologemes.

  • It is well known that one of the varieties of political discourse is presidential discourse, in which ideologemes play a key role as they are the main semantic elements of the text. Scientists have been actively studying ideologemes since the late 90's in XX century. All scientists agree that an ideologeme is a concept that conveys a "socially important idea" ( Piontek, 2012, p. 12), influences the reader's worldview ( Bezrodnaya, 2013, p. 141), and is associated with an ideological denotation ( Kupina, 2005, p. 91). The authors of the article describe an ideologeme as a concept performing a suggestive function expressed by means of language tools.

Problem Statement

Analysis of the existing scientific literature on the topic of presidential discourse allowed the authors to conclude that the source of ideologeme is a political text (oral or written speech of political leaders, articles, speeches, addresses, interviews, etc.), the so-called primary source. At the same time, in recent years, there has been a clear trend as an active reaction to political texts (reviews, responses, comments) of many public and political figures, scientists, civil servants, representatives of non-governmental organizations, the business sector, etc.

The authors of the article have included previously unexplored "secondary" political texts where the ideologeme is a subject to reinterpretation which acquires new outlines. These texts are the confirmation of the fact that the ideologeme "exists", becomes recognizable, that it positively / negatively affects the mass consciousness. In addition, the scientific novelty of this article is stipulated with the fact that the subject of the research is new ideologemes that function in the modern publicistic discourse of Kazakhstan. The ideologeme, being a new term for a certain period of time, gradually joins the active lexical fund, replenishes it and functions, while it is able to "acquire" new meanings, change/vary its meaning, thereby forming an ideological space and influencing the consciousness of native speakers.

The authors of the article set the following tasks: to examine and summarize the scientific experience in the field of study language units with the ideological component; to identify and describe the key new concepts, ideologemes, which are significant for the solution of problems of modernization of the public consciousness of Kazakhstani people to analyze the substantive content for the new reality of ideologemes in public consciousness, to reveal their etymology; to show the enhanced value, the amount of semantic fullness, the role of ideologemes in shaping social consciousness.

Research Questions

 Formation of a new ideology that defines the worldview of Kazakhstan.

 Two key ideologemes of modern Kazakhstan: "Ruhani zhangyru" and “The land of great steppe (history of emergence, semantic enrichment).Formation of a new ideology that defines the worldview of Kazakhstan.

 The functioning of ideologemes in Kazakhstan's publicistic discourse (in "secondary" political texts), their role in the formation of public consciousness.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the research is to identify and describe new ideologemes of public consciousness ("Ruhani zhangyru", "The land of the great steppe"), to reveal their semantic content, their development and functioning in the political discourse of modern Kazakhstan; to show the influence of ideologemes on the formation of public consciousness and the functioning of the entire ideological sign system of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Research Methods

The main research method is a conceptual one, aimed at identifying clear meanings ("layers"), the internal structure of the concept, verbalized through the language means of the Russian language. The research also uses the lexicographic method (analysis of lexicographic definitions), the method of contextual analysis of primary sources and "secondary" texts, the method of etymological analysis of the word, methods of synthesis and generalization, classification and interpretation.

Findings

Ideology is an integral part of the policy of any state, and political texts, first of all, the works of the country leader play an important role in its formation. "According to Usenov ( 2016), the ideology of independent Kazakhstan is a system of ideas of the First President of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev, who in his books, articles, and messages to the people of Kazakhstan always pays special attention to the theoretical aspect" (p. 157). Thanks to the program articles of NursultanNazarbayev aimed at solving social issues, transforming the way of life of Kazakhstanis, the prospects and progressive development of the state, thanks to the deep content of the message of the First President and his new ideas, at the present stage of development of Kazakhstan, we can note the functioning of the following ideologies: "Mangilik El", "NurlyZhol", G-Global, EXPO-2017, civil identity, "Ruhani zhangyru", “The land of great steppe", etc.

For example, “the neutral combination of «Nurly Zhol» in recent years has turned into an ideologeme , which has a clear political tint and is associated with the life and fate of every Kazakhstani person” ( Anishchenko & Batyrbekova, 2019, p. 61).

Let us consider two key ideologies in the political discourse of modern Kazakhstan: "Ruhani zhangyru" and "The Land of the Great steppe", their semantic content and development.

6.1 Ideologeme "Ruhani zhangyru" contains two semantic component zhangyru (in Russ. "revival") and ruhani (in Russ.”spiritual”). The word Rebirth in philosophical works is written with a capital letter, meaning "epoch, movement or concept " ( Comte-Sponville, 2012), and it is associated with renewal: "we are talking about a renewal movement based on a return, at least partially and temporarily, to the previous era ... this is a kind of return to the origins, in which the ocean is not lost for a moment. This is a retreat for the purpose of moving forward. Therefore, the Revival is the opposite of reaction and conservatism, so it represents a conscious progress based on the ideals of loyalty" ( Comte-Sponville, 2012).

The First President of Kazakhstan speaks about returning to the sources in order to preserve the spiritual heritage and increase cultural values. In his program article "View to the future: modernization of public consciousness" dated April 12, 2017, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev presented the program "Ruhani zhangyru", a program of spiritual renewal of Kazakhstan's society, six directions of modernization of public consciousness: "Gradual transition of the Kazakh language to the Latin alphabet"; "New humanitarian knowledge. 100 new textbooks in the Kazakh language"; "Tugan Zher"; " Sacred geography of Kazakhstan"; "100 new faces of Kazakhstan". "I am convinced," the First President underlined, "that a nation that remembers, values, and which is proud of its history has a great future. Pride for the past, a pragmatic assessment of the present and a positive view of the future is the key to the success of our country" ( Nazarbayev, 2017b).

The idea of "Ruhani zhangyru" was actively supported by the public of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as a result, the conceptualization of the presidential program was widely reflected in mass media: "The Program "Ruhani zhangyru" for us today is a priority, it is comprehensive and answers the important issues of our time: where is our place in the stream of history, and where we want to be. The best thing about this program is that everyone is aware of their involvement in a great cause..."( Abilkas, 2017);"... the study of sacred geographical and cultural sites in all regions of Kazakhstan is undoubtedly a good cause that will allow people, especially young people, to get to know their region better, its history, and literally touch eternity" ( Bykov, 2017); " ... I think it is significant that the President proposed a large-scale program "Ruhani zhangyru" aimed at reviving spirituality and modernizing public consciousness. Now it is important to go back to your roots, to raise the level of culture of every citizen" ( Dzhumahmatov, 2017).

These quotations allow us to conclude that the concept of "Ruhani zhangyru" for Kazakhstanis includes important meanings: spiritual modernization; preservation of national identity; the cult of knowledge; evolutionary development; patriotism and love for a small homeland.

As the understanding of the "Ruhani zhangyru" program deepens and its popularization in the Kazakh society, the idea expressed by the First President is filled with new concepts, acquiring significance and scale: the ideological platform, the state ideology, and the ideological platform. Here are some examples of the representation of these conceptual meanings in publicistic discourse: "Ruhani zhangyru" is an ideological platform designed to become the basis for the qualitative transformation of the entire country" ( Nygymetov, 2017); "The article of the Head of state is a political and ideological document specifying the state ideology, which will become a new ideological platform" ( Karin, 2017).

In the Introduction to the book "Nursultan Nazarbayev – Bolashakka bagdar: Ruhani zhangyru" (which includes more than a hundred articles, speeches, interviews, expert comments and reference materials), "members of the editorial board, expressing a common opinion, emphasize: "The civilizational and value choice towards openness, innovation and progress has always been characteristic of Kazakhstan. The dominant ideology promoted by the President is reform through openness, readiness for change, healthy pragmatism, spiritual and cultural dynamism of the entire Kazakh society" ( Nursultan Nazarbayev…, 2017, p.12).

Thus, the ideologeme "Ruhani zhangyru", represented in contemporary publicistic discourse of Kazakhstan, reflects the unity of purpose of people of Kazakhstan, common values and social cohesion.

6.2 The "Ruhani zhangyru" program is closely related to the idea of "Kazakhstan, the country of the great steppe", which was first announced by the first President N. Nazarbayev in 2015. During the national teleconference, he stated the need to create a brand of Kazakhstan as a country of the great steppe: "I'm thinking about the question: for example, Japan is called the country of the rising sun, Korea is the country of morning freshness, the Netherlands is the country of tulips, China is the celestial Empire. We are the country of the great steppe. ... Kazakhstanis are children of the great steppe, and under this brand they should appear before the rest of the world" ( Nazarbayev, 2015a).

This proposal of the President, besides the "image task of creating a recognizable brand, contains an ideological character" ( Kulsarieva, 2018), which is revealed in the article "Seven faces of the great steppe" ( from November 21, 2018). Equestrian culture; Ancient metallurgy; Animal style; the Golden man; the Cradle of the Turkic world; the Great silk road; Kazakhstan is the land of apples and tulips, all these are facets of a single historical process, the ideological basis of a New Kazakh Brand. Noting fairly, that the above issues require serious reflection, the Head of state emphasizes: "they relate to the fundamental foundations of our worldview, the past, present and future of the people" ( Nazarbayev, 2018c).

Speaking at a solemn meeting in honor of the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh khanate, Nursultan Nazarbayev announced that from now on Kazakhstan is a Land of the Great steppe. "We have lit a new beacon of our history, so today and forever our Kazakhstan is UlyDala Eli, the Country of the Great transformed steppe, the cradle and home of all the multi-ethnic people of our homeland. This is the national name of our beloved Motherland, The country of the Great steppe" ( Nazarbayev, 2015b).

Famous Kazakh historian and political scientist Akimbekov ( 2015), asking a rhetorical question "What does the idea of the great steppe mean for Kazakhstan?", responds that this is an ideological task:"... in public opinion, we have real ideological wars about both recent and ancient history, possible allies, and the likely direction of state development. Therefore, we have a choice of ideological concepts, this is almost a jewelry task. In this sense, the idea of "the great steppe land" looks very promising".

The ideologeme "Land of the Great steppe" contains three important components. The concept of Land is synonymous with the concepts of land, state, power, homeland, fatherland, land, Republic and emphasizes the power, strength, and unity of citizens. The second component, the steppe is a concept that is close to every citizen of Kazakhstan. They speak with sincere love about the vast, wide steppes surrounding them, their colors, smells and sounds, about the steppe expanses and about their involvement in this native land. "Daughter of the steppes", "son of the steppes", so it is customary to call the people born in Kazakhstan. The second concept of Great, according to explanatory dictionaries, is ambiguous: 1. Outstanding in its significance, influence, and merits. 2. Very big, huge, large.

The concept "Land of the great steppe" contains positive evaluation meanings, so the idea of the First President "Kazakhstan is the Land of the great steppe" causes only positive responses from parliamentarians and Kazakh scientists: "The Fundamental work of Elbasy (Head of State) "Seven faces of the great steppe" is a very important stage in the development of the program "Ruhani zhangyru". Understanding their historical roots, understanding the path of their development and prospects for achievements make people really strong, harden their spirit, and lay the foundation for future success" ( Bozhko, 2019); "The conceptual article of the Head of State "Seven faces of the great steppe" opens a new page in the process of historical reinterpretation of our past. It is aimed at further shaping the historical consciousness in our country. ... The peculiarity of the "Seven faces of the great steppe" is the confirmation of a pragmatic approach to the spheres of ideology and culture" ( Ashimbaev, 2018); "I do not exclude that this will be a new interpretation of Kazakhstan, and Nursultan Abishevich gave a new impetus to associate Kazakhstan not only with oil, not only with the Caspian sea, not only with non-proliferation, but also with a new ideology, the Great steppe" ( Adil, 2018); "the Image-name" The Land of the Great steppe "demands all citizens of modern Kazakhstan to transform the ideology into a dream with its further transformation into reality" ( Kulsarieva, 2018).

The analysis of the representation of the name "The Land of the Great steppe" in the publicistic discourse indicates the expansion of the semantic field of the ideologeme (this is what the presidential idea is called in the "secondary texts"). The headlines of publicistic articles contribute to the formation of an ideological picture of the world. They actualize ideological connotations, which allows us to distinguish three conceptual layers: 1. Historical roots, "the Land of ancient nomads – the Great steppe"; " We are the children of the great steppe!"; "The Land of the great steppe. Word under the sky, prose and poetry of Kazakhstan"; 2. The basis of future success – "Nazarbayev: the concept of Eternal land and the Great steppe are synonymous with sustainable development of Kazakhstan"; "History of the great steppe as the basis of Kazakhstan's success"; "Civilization of the great steppe" Mangilik El»; 3. Reality – "The Land of the great steppe"; national brand of Kazakhstan. "The President: Now and forever our Kazakhstan, the Land of the Great steppe"; "Today and forever Kazakhstan is the land of transformed desert"; "the Seven faces of the great steppe": the President creates the preconditions for the emergence of a genuine Kazakh ideology"; "the great steppe Land – the national brand of Kazakhstan".

Conclusion

Thus, the rich language material of publicistic sources traces the formation of the ideologies "Ruhani zhangyru" and "The Land of the Great steppe": the evolution of once neutral words and expressions, which over time received a political sound in the speeches and messages of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, later, in the articles of politicians, scientists, public figures, and journalists. The author traces the emergence of various connotations, semantic enrichment of ideologies, their active functioning in the political discourse of modern Kazakhstan, and the influence of the language of politics on public consciousness. It is safe to note that the ideologemes "Ruhani zhangyru" and "The Land of the Great steppe" entered the lexical fund of political discourse of modern Kazakhstan, enriched it and actively function in the media, contributing to the strengthening of the unity of the people of Kazakhstan.

References

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Publication Date

03 August 2020

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978-1-80296-085-3

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European Publisher

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86

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Sociolinguistics, linguistics, semantics, discourse analysis, translation, interpretation

Cite this article as:

Aniсhshenko, O. A., & Zhakupova, A. D. (2020). New Ideologemes In Publicistic Discourse Of Modern Kazakhstan. In N. L. Amiryanovna (Ed.), Word, Utterance, Text: Cognitive, Pragmatic and Cultural Aspects, vol 86. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 450-457). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2020.08.53