US-based anthropologist explores characteristics of Kazakh language, culture

Nur Sultan [Kazakhastan], August 24 : Owing to its difficult syntax and structure which are the most difficult parts, the Kazakh language is completely different from English, said US-based anthropologist Alex Warburton, who has eventually well versed in the language.
There is no accurate data on the number of foreigners speaking the Kazakh language, but Alex Warburton, a linguistic and sociocultural anthropologist in contemporary Kazakhstan and Turkic Central Asia from the United States, has studied Kazakh well enough to understand local humor and engage in conversations in the libraries and outdoor markets, The Astana Times reported.
"English and Russian are Indo-European languages, so the structures are similar. For example, let's take the word 'that.' The construction of 'I saw that' in Russian and English will sound almost the same, but this sentence will sound completely different in Kazakh," Warburton said.
Warburton, in an interview with The Astana Times, said that he came to Kazakhstan for the first time in 2016 to explore the country, its people, and language from a scientific perspective as this was the topic of his PhD research at Harvard University.
He said that he learns the native language of the country wherever he goes, so now he speaks Spanish, French, Chinese, Indonesian, Turkish, Russian, and Kazakh.
When asked about his efforts to master pronunciation, Warburton said that no one has ever laughed at it, instead, people understood he was not local and highly appreciated his efforts to speak Kazakh.
"I do not speak Kazakh so often in stores because if I start to speak Kazakh, then we will start to talk and it will last for a long time," he said.
The US-based researcher said that he enrolled in Harvard seeking to study Turkiye and Turkish, but finally changed his mind and chose Kazakhstan.
"Before coming here, I knew nothing about the post-Soviet world. When I came here, I first lived with a Kazakh family. My host mom and her daughter spoke to me in Kazakh but added a lot of Russian words. At that time I did not know Russian," said Warburton.
He further explained that he could study Kazakh only in Kazakhstan as he was fully immersed in his studies in the US and there were very few Kazakh courses. He began to learn Kazakh at Almaty-based KIMEP University in 2016 and continued his studies at Nazarbayev University in Nur-Sultan the next year. In 2018, he returned to Almaty.
"I started my year of fieldwork in January 2020, but stopped in March due to the outbreak of the pandemic and had to wait 18 months till I could come back to Kazakhstan," explained Warburton.
In November 2021, he returned to the country to do his fieldwork and study the language. Warburton plans to stay in Kazakhstan at least until November 2022.
Speaking of Kazakh culture, Warburton said that he had explored it and adores it.
"The first artist I was interested in was Moldanazar, and there are many others. Among the movies, I really liked 'Tulip' - the story of a young man who was in the navy and returned to his home village, where he decided to find a wife. To be honest, I like comedies more and watched 'The Kazakh Business' and 'My Big Kazakh Family'," Warburton said.
As an anthropologist, he is curious about the nomad culture that pertains to the country.
"Earlier, when a guest came to the yurt (traditional dwelling of Kazakhs), he was seated in an honorable place called 'tore,' it is located opposite the entrance, behind the hearth. What is interesting is that this tradition still exists, although people have been living in apartments for a long time," noted the researcher.
Warburton said that he found the Kazakh people's love of meat interesting as it is not the best dish in the US.
"I got used to it too. I may not be able to eat it like the locals, but I started to understand its incredible taste, for example, in kazy, sausage-like food made of horse meat," he said.
So far, Warburton has traveled to Nur-Sultan, Burabai National Park, Karagandy, Taldykorgan, Tekeli, Kegen and Karkara villages, Shymkent, and Uralsk, The Astana Times reported.
According to him, he would like to see the West Kazakhstan Region, especially Atyrau and Mangystau.
"This is partially to see the Caspian Sea and the Ustyurt plateau, but also because people tell me that more people speak Kazakh there and I want to experience what it is like to be in a place where people speak Kazakh to each other by default," he noted.