LOANWORDS IN THE CONTEMPORARY KAZAKH LANGUAGE: FUNCTIONAL NECESSITY AND ISSUES OF LINGUISTIC ECOLOGY

Abstract

Incorporation of loanwords is a complex phenomenon in the diachronic and synchronic development of the Kazakh literary language. Lexical borrowing is closely associated with geopolitical, economic, cultural, educational, and professional relations. In contemporary Kazakhstan, Russian and English scientific and technical terminology is required to denote new concepts and facilitate professional communication. Globalisation, multilingualism, digital technologies, Internet communication, and modern information technologies have also accelerated the spread of Russian and English lexical units in social communication, including everyday Kazakh speech. It examines loanwords from linguistic ecology perspective, focusing on language preservation and lexical integrity. The empirical material was collected from periodicals, literary texts, advertisements, Internet communication, and user-generated social media content. Borrowed units were analysed according to functional, semantic, and linguo-ecological criteria and classified into terms, culture-specific lexical units, foreign insertions, formal lexical alternatives, and destructive lexical units. Modelling was used to systematise their functional necessity, excessive use, lexical impoverishment, and areas requiring linguo-ecological monitoring. The findings indicate that some loanwords fulfil specific nominative and communicative needs, whereas excessive use of others may weaken Kazakh equivalents and contribute to language mixing. The study contributes to the theoretical development of Kazakh linguistic ecology as an emerging field of Kazakh linguistics.