SOME LANGUAGE FEATURES OF THE NOVEL "ASPAN ASTY, ZHER USTINDEGI ZULMAT" BY ADAM MEKEBAEV

Abstract

Adam Mekebaev is a writer who is characterized by bold and objective civic position. He was one of
the first to resort to the theme of famine in Kazakhstan in the 1930s, when it was forbidden not only to write
about this tragedy, but even just mention it. Unfortunately, most of Mekebaev's works are unknown to non-
Kazakh readers. Only a few stories were translated into the Russian language in 1985.
The purpose of the article is to show some of the linguistic features used by the author to reproduce
the situation in the country caused by forced collectivization, confiscation of livestock, impoverishment, which
led to the catastrophic tragedy of the Kazakh people leading a nomadic lifestyle - the death of millions of
people. Initially, the novel was published under the innocuous title «Құпия қойма» (Qūpia qoima) - "A Secret
cache” (a hidden storage place). In the 2015 edition, the title of the novel «Аспан асты, жер үстіндегі
зұлмат» (Aspan asty, jer üstındegı zūlmat) conform with the content of the author's text. The word
«зұлмат» (zūlmat) means "natural disaster", the word "«зұлымдық» (zūlymdyq) belonging to the same
semantic group means "atrocity".
What happened in Kazakhstan in the early thirties was a real atrocity against Kazakhs. In the
annotated article, related to the historical situation of the 30s, reflecting the originality of the Kazakh national
mentality only some linguistic features - individual words, phraseological units, double words, lexical stylistic
devices are analyzed.
Quotes from the novel and separate words in the Kazakh language are given in Cyrillic and Latin
scrips.
Key words: collectivization, confiscation, impoverishment, hunger, children, death.