Methods of conveying the image of a child in Kazakh fairy tales

Abstract

The image of the child in Kazakh culture reflects the values, worldview, and characteristics of national thinking. Lexical units related to the child make it possible to reveal the predispositions, views, and emotions of the Kazakh people, as well as to determine the role of the child within their cultural system. Despite the presence of such linguistic units in Kazakh linguistics, they are rarely examined as part of a unified system, especially from the perspective of their lexico-grammatical, ethnolinguistic, and cognitive features. Kazakh fairy tales play a special role in shaping the image of the child. Through the fairy-tale discourse, not only is the national culture preserved, but the child’s vocabulary is also expanded, and their speech culture is developed.
Studying the linguistic means by which the image of the child is created in Kazakh fairy tales allows us to determine the child’s role in society and the family. In Kazakh fairy tales, the child is endowed with important and symbolic qualities. The child acts not only as a representative of the younger generation but also as a bearer of moral values, ideals, and traditions. Their image is created through direct and indirect description, metaphors, allegories, and a combination of the real and the imaginary. Qualities such as honesty, compassion, heroism, and diligence emphasize the educational function of the tales, revealing the struggle between good and evil, as well as the essence of victories and defeats. Thus, the image of the child in Kazakh fairy tales performs an important moral and educational function, reflects the cultural and educational traditions of the Kazakh people, and contributes to the formation of the worldview of the younger generation.