Vol. 52 No. 2 (2026), Articles
Sound Symbolism and Emotional Tone in Kazakh Poetry: A Phonosemantic Experimental Study
Articles
Published
30.06.2026
- Yelzhan Kenzhebek
Keywords
phonosemantics
sound symbolism
emotional tone
poetry
formant frequency
sound symbolism
emotional tone
poetry
formant frequency
How to Cite
Kenzhebek, Y. (2026). Sound Symbolism and Emotional Tone in Kazakh Poetry: A Phonosemantic Experimental Study. "Actual Problems of the Present" International Scientific Journal, 52(2), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.64863/2312-4784/2026-2-52/63-74
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between sound symbolism and emotional tone in Kazakh poetry. Phonosemantics is one of the important fields of modern linguistics that examines the natural connection between sound and meaning. In recent decades, increasing attention has been paid to the role of sound symbolism in poetic texts. Therefore, the present research focuses on the influence of phonetic structures on readers’ emotional perception of Kazakh poetry. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the works of S.V.Voronin, A.P.Zhuravlev, V.V.Levitsky, K.Sh.Khusainov, and Jan Auracher. The research material consisted of twelve poetic stanzas selected from the works of I.Zhansugurov, A.Kunanbayev, M.Zhumabayev, B.Kuleyev, and S.Aronuly. The poems were classified into two groups according to their formant frequency levels. The study employed Charles Osgood’s semantic differential method. Forty school students aged between 12 and 17 participated in the experiment. The respondents evaluated the emotional tone of the poems using the scales “light-dark”, “strong-weak”, and “active-slow”. The collected data were statistically analyzed using the Jamovi software package. The findings indicate that, in many cases, poems with higher formant frequencies are associated with positive emotional characteristics such as brightness, strength, and activity. At the same time, the results reveal that emotional perception is influenced not only by vowel qualities but also by semantic content and the repetition of consonant sounds. The study demonstrates that sound symbolism plays a significant role in shaping the emotional tone of poetic texts in Kazakh literature.
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