The Concepts of “Wise” and “Foolish” in Kazakh Proverbs: Cultural Code and Social Evaluation

Abstract

The article provides a critical overview of the concepts of “wise” and “foolish” as examined in both domestic and international scholarship, and analyzes their representation within Kazakh culture and language. The primary objective of the study is to identify the interrelation and semantic-structural dynamics of the “wise foolish” opposition in the Kazakh sociocultural context through a linguocultural and social analysis of the paremiological corpus, specifically proverbs and sayings. Proverbs and sayings constitute the principal empirical material of the study, as they encapsulate the worldview of an ethnos and reflect its evaluative attitudes toward intelligence and foolishness. This accounts for the relevance of the research. The examination of the concepts “wise” and “foolish,” which occupy a significant place in the Kazakh linguistic worldview, through the paremiological corpus enables a deeper understanding of the interaction between language and culture, as well as the reconstruction of underlying cognitive structures. Drawing on relevant scholarly sources, the study employs comparative, semantic, and linguocultural methods to analyze Kazakh proverbs associated with the “wise foolish” opposition. Particular attention is paid to the evaluative meanings of lexical units and the delineation of their semantic fields. The findings are systematized in tabular form, highlighting the core features of the “wise” concept as represented in Kazakh proverbs. On this basis, the linguocultural characteristics of expressions associated with the concept of “foolishness” are further elucidated. The study concludes that proverbs and sayings should be regarded not merely as fixed linguistic units, but as culturally dynamic elements subject to ongoing interpretative transformations.