Basic Color Terms in the Kazakh Language

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of basic color terms and reviews the existing publications on color terms, including in the Kazakh language. The literature in Kazakhstani linguistics on basic color terms in Kazakh has mostly an empirical character, and it relies on the authors’ personal perceptions and examples from language—fiction, dictionaries, proverbs, and idioms. Most scholars identified the following inventory of basic color terms in Kazakh: ақ “white,” қара “black,” қызыл “red,” көк “blue,” сары “yellow,” and ала “multicolored.” The aim of the present article is to elaborate a list of basic color terms in the Kazakh language through conducting an experiment among Kazakh native speakers. The experiment was held among Kazakh young people to find out which color terms they name and how they order them. The results of the experiment showed that there is some difference in the way Kazakh scholars define and contemporary young Kazakhs name basic color terms. The young native speakers of Kazakh named eleven colors, such as Ақ (white), Қара (black), Сары (yellow), Жасыл (green), Қызыл (red), Көк (blue), Қоңыр (brown), Сүр (gray), Көгілдір (pale blue), Қызғылт (pink), and Күлгін (purple).