kazakh progressive magazines suck ass. they do not know the damn language, everything reads as it was copied from a russian-kazakh google translation (because it was). most disturbingly, they utilize kazakh culture only as an object of mockery and false relatability. the majority of editors are just some almaty kazakhs with unresolved self-hatred and/or absolute ignorance towards lower economic class in the country who would not even move their finger to do field journalism in a form of interviewing people who speak kazakh predominantly. also all of them love to put slavic women in kazakh costumes. for some fucking reason. it is either that or kazakh women with blue/green eyes bc ooohhh european features.
Transcript of Segments From My Kazakh Textbook's First Chapter
Because I typed all of this out in hopes of making a study guide on Quizlet, and want to save it just in case. Enjoy, I suppose, and do feel free to correct or clarify if you are a native speaker.
Vowel Harmony:
There are thirteen vowels in Kazakh, divided according to their place of articulation and phonological behavior.
Back vowels: а, о, ұ, ы
Front vowels: ә, е, ө, ү, і
Mixed vowels: и, у, ю, я
There are mixed vowels such as у and и that occur in combination with front or back vowels; "қуану", "киім", "оқиға", "күйеу". The vowels ю and я occur in combination with back vowels; "ою", "жая", and sometimes with front vowels; "сүю", "Сәния"
Vowel harmony plays a major role in the Kazakh language. The most important thing to remember is that the vowel of a suffix must match the final vowel of the stem- if the final vowel is front, the suffix vowel must also be front; if the final vowel is back, the suffix vowel must also be back. For example, with the plural suffixes, "-лар/лер", "-дар/дер", and "-тар/тер", the "a" is a front vowel and the "e" is a back vowel. The form that occurs depends on the final vowel of the stem. Specific examples (note that these words do not need to be memorized and therefore are not translated);
Бала + лар = балалар
Терезе + лер = Терелер
Қыз + дар = Қыздар
Гүл + дер = Гүлдер
Ат + тар = Аттар
Сурет + тер = Суреттер
Note that vowel harmony does not seem to apply stem-internally. There are some "broken" stems in casual Kazakh, mostly from loanwords dating back hundreds of years.
It is important to know that, in Kazakh, there are certain suffixes that have only one variant of the vowel, but you will learn all of these in due time.
Consonant Alternations:
In Kazakh, consonants at the end of stems and the beginning of suffixes may change based on adjacent sounds. To understand how these alternations work, it is important to know whether a consonant is voiceless or voiced.
Voiceless: к, қ, п, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ
Voiced: ғ, ж, з, й, л, м, н, ң, р, у
Voiced, but act voiceless in practice: б, в, г, д
If a word ends in a voiceless consonant, then the suffix added to the word begins with a voiceless consonant. If the last sound of a word is a voiced consonant, then the added suffix begins with a voiced consonant. For example, using "-Та/те", "-да/де" (note that these words do not need to be memorized and therefore are not translated);
Ағаш + та = Ағашта
Бесік + те = Бесікте
Люксембург + те = Люксембургте
Жаз + да = Жазда
Адам + да = Адамда
Көше + де = Көшеде
If the last sound of the word is one of the voiceless consonants қ, к, п, and the added suffix begins with a vowel, then the voiceless consonant changes to its voiced counterpart, ғ, г, б.
It is important to know the form of a verb stem- verbs are often given in their imperative form, ending with -y, and usually one may simply remove the imperative suffix (-y) to know the verb stem. However, if the verb stem ends in i or ы, these vowels become absorbed by the -y suffix and there is no way of knowing that the stem includes one of these vowels by simply removing -y.
Kazakh Word Order:
In Kazakh sentences, the verb always goes at the end of the sentence. This is because typical word order of Kazakh sentences is subject + object + verb (SOV), as opposed to in English that has subject + verb + object (SVO) word order. For example; "Мен қазақ тілін оқимын," translates to "I learn Kazakh", but literally means "I Kazakh language learn." Example 2; "Ол студент болды," translates to "He was a student", but literally means "He student was."
Kazakh Personal Pronouns:
In Kazakh, there are eight personal pronouns, that are used as subject pronouns or nominative case pronouns, meaning they are used for the subject of a sentence, as in English "I," "we," "they," etc. as opposed to "me," "us," "them," etc. There are a few situations in Kazakh where the subject is not nominative or something in nominative case is not the subject; but you will be introduced to these topics as needed in future chapters.
The complete list of personal pronouns is as follows:
1st person pronouns; "Мен" = I, "Біз" = we
2nd person informal pronouns; "Сен" = you, "Сендер" = you all
2nd person formal pronouns; "Сіз" = you, "Сіздер" = you all
3rd person pronouns; "Ол" = singular they or it, "Олар" = plural they (Kazakh does not have gendered pronouns)
When referring to objects, the name is used instead of any pronoun such as "it".
Personal endings in copula sentences:
English sentences using the linking verb "to be" (copula sentences) are expressed in Kazakh with a suffix rather than a verb. These personal endings are added to the noun or adjective that is being sued as a predicate (the part of the sentence which states something about the subject). This is best explained by the following examples;
"Мен жаспын." = I am young. "пын" is the personal ending indicating that "young" (жас) describes "I", the subject.
"Сен ақылдыcың." = You are intelligent. "cың" is the personal ending indicating that "intelligent" (ақылды) describes "you", the subject.
"Сіз жассыз." = You are young. "сыз" is the personal ending indicating that "young" (жас) describes "you", the subject.
"Ол қуанышты." = They (singular) are happy. Note that "Ол" does not have a personal ending.
"Біз жаспыз." = We are young. "пыз" is the personal ending indicating that "young" (жас) describes "we", the subject.
"Сендер дәрігерсіңдер." = You are doctors. "сіңдер" is the personal ending indicating that "doctors" describes "you (all)", the subject.
"Сіздер қуаныштысыздар." = You all are happy. "сыздар" is the personal ending indicating that "happy" describes "you all"", the subject.
"Олар дәрігерлер." = They (plural) are doctors. Note that "Олар" does not have a personal ending- "лер" is the suffix that makes the noun "дәрігер" plural.
Personal pronouns can be dropped when the subject is clear- such as "Дерігермін" = "I am a doctor". In contrast, 3rd person requires more clarity due to the lack of personal endings, so the pronoun is usually specified.
The Plural Suffix:
In spoken Kazakh, the plural suffixes "-лар/лер", "-дар/дер", and "-тар/тер" are often dropped. For example, "They are doctors" can be spoken as "Олар дәрігер" rather than "Олар дәрігерлер."
The Yes/No Particle:
You can turn a simple statement into a yes/no question by using the interrogative particles "Ма/Ме", "Ба/Бе", "Па/Пе". The question particle's selection is, as most grammar in Kazakh, based on the principles of vowel harmony and consonant assimilation. The consonant is chosen based on how the word ends.
After vowels or й, р, у, л: Ма/Ме; "Олар қуанышты ма?" = "Are they happy?"
After ж, з, м, н, ң: Ба/Бе; "Сіз мұғалімсіз бе?" = "Are you a teacher?"
After voiceless consonants or б, в, г, д: Па/Пе; "Ол студент пе?" = "Are they a student?"
Questions in Kazakh have either the question words (what, who, when, etc) or the yes/no question particles, but not both.
When you are asked a yes/no question and wish to answer affirmatively, answer "Ие" for "yes". Example; "Ие, студентпін." = "Yes, I am a student."
When you need to answer negatively, use ther word "Жоқ" for "no". Example: "Жоқ, мұғалім емеспін." = "No, I am not a teacher."
Ablative Case:
To express the idea of "from a place" in Kazakh, you attach the ablative case suffixes "-Даһ/ден", "-Нан/нен", "-Тан/тен" to the place name. For example, "Америкадан" means "from America".
The initial consonant of the subject takes the д- form when it occurs after voiced sounds (vowels and voiced consonants), the т- form when it occurs after voiceless consonants, and the н- form when it occurs after nasals (м, н, ң).
The vowel sound is, as always, dependent on vowel harmony, so if the previous vowel is a back vowel, it takes the "a" sound. If the previous vowel is a front vowel, it takes the "e" sound.
After vowels or й, р, у, л: -Даһ/ден
After ж, з, м, н, ң: -Нан/нен
After voiceless consonants or б, в, г, д: -Тан/тен
Asking Questions with "әлде" and "немесе":
When asking someone a question where there are two optional answers, the words "әлде" and "немесе" can be used to indicate the English term "or". These words are optional and can be omitted, however, both options must share a subject and be stated as questions using a question particle. For example, the question "Are you from America or Canada?" can be expressed as all three of the following;
Another interesting thing about how Russian Empire/USSR operated is in names. Both for people and places.
Exhibit A: The apparent Russification of all names. Names that are Kazakh, but you need to write the official documents in Russian so they don't come out quite right. One of the already mentioned examples is with patronymics: Russian -ev and -eva and etc. added to Kazakh names. There is also the matter of pronunciation, the "special"* letters of Kazakh cyrillic being omitted which lead to butchered names.
Exhibit B: The names of towns and regions. They were all either named from Russian language, or had their names bent in a strange way. Example for the first one is Tselinograd(modern Astana) which means "Town of virgin lands"*. The second one is Alma-ata(current Almaty) which written in this way means "Apple grandfather" while the modern one just means...appley(?). There is no adjective for apple in English so bear with me. There also examples of this where the meaning doesn't change, and the spelling is strange for no apparent reason. Example: Kzyl-Orda(nowadays Qyzylorda) which omitted a vowel and added a dash just because.
Both examples are interesting in a way that they don't really seem significant, but deny an ability to control a small part of life for the natives. Think of it. It's the names you give your own children, the name of a place where you live, being not completely yours, looking not right.
Edit: I am sorry, I forget to mention that this applies to all empires. In general, when I talk about some phenomenas or culture things, I am aware that they are not exclusive to Kazakh and Kazakhstan's history, but this is what I know. The additions are welcome though!
*the development of virgin lands(Tselina) is a time in 50s and 60s of XX century when USSR decided that actually, the steppes of Northern Kazakhstan are actually very good for agriculture, the natives were just stupid. The soil there deteriorated by 15-20%. The immediate results were quite nice though.
the natives are just stupid part is meant to be ironic btw
Also a reminder! Ask me questions. I am more motivated by them.
This was such a unique, unexpected drama. It's mostly a slice-of-life story, leaving almost all the heavy drama for the last couple of episodes, and watching it is such a calming experience (except for a few intense scenes, of course). Also, I appreciate its efforts to explore Kazakh culture, which is pretty much never represented in any form of mainstream media. On top of that, it's a visually stunning piece of art: I can't remember the last show or movie that showcased such a big collection of downright striking landscapes. I feel like I spent 80% of the time staring in awe at the scenery. It really is that beautiful, and everything is so well-shot; the cinematographer deserves all the awards in the world. My only qualm is the dubbed voice they use for the male lead at some points, which is very annoying and unnatural. But yeah, To The Wonder is like no other drama I've seen. Just the visuals alone make it worth a watch.
I have a question for Kazakh people, i hope you answer it!!
I'm writing a Kazakh character. I found the name ''Arma'' years ago, which I think means ''dream'' or related to that. I found other meanings from other cultures too. But I always imagined the character as Kazakh. My question is, can you use Arma as a real name? or is it just a word?
And do you have any recommendations for how to write a more accurate Kazakh character? What would you want to see from a Kazakh character?
(the story is placed in a fictional country, that has people from different cultures from our world.)
