«Regional integration of literary and linguistic tourism of East Kazakhstan: etymology of toponyms and digitization of local legends»

ABSTRACT

Literary and linguistic tourism of the East Kazakhstan – is a large field of combining the literary heritage of the region, linguistic cognitive units, place names into a tourist destination. Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in his message to the people of Kazakhstan entitled “Just Kazakhstan: law and order, economic growth, public optimism”: “It is necessary to properly use the tourism potential of Katonkaragai, Zaisan, Kendirli regions” assigned tasks [1]. Accordingly, the main purpose of the project is to study the directions of literary and linguistic tourism of the region based on the digitalization of the etymology of toponyms and local legends of the East Kazakhstan. 

The issues of development of tourist destinations of the East Kazakhstan through digitalization of the literary heritage and toponyms of the East Kazakhstan are not specifically addressed. Therefore, special attention is paid to the introduction of the literary and linguistic direction of the region as one area of increasing tourism.

“Literary tourism” is a kind of cultural tourism, which involves visiting the places described in literary works, as well as getting acquainted with the creativity of the authors of these works. A kind of tourism that aims to visit places associated with worldwide literary creativity.” This type of tourism attracts many people from all over the world [2]. This is done through literary tourism by introducing tourists to sacred places, cultural heritage of the same region, historical monuments, the life and creativity of poets and writers. Studies are conducted into the skill of depicting the nature of the scenic landscape in legends and regional literature relating to sacred places in the works of the writers.

Literary and linguistic tourism contributes to the development of Kazakhstani tourism. «Today’s tourist and tourist group, travelers are considered valuable information about the local land and water names. The reason is that the land-water names, which clearly shows the natural phenomena, the features of the landforms, the image of the country’s agricultural life and the historical, socio-economic and political changes in the life of the society [3]. This is achieved by making etymological analyzes of the names of geographical objects on linguistic tourism, describing a brief history of historical and cultural places, digitizing place names related to tourist destinations.

In the course of conducting research, literary and linguistic, onomastic, toponymic, ethnographic, folklore scientific-practical data during the organization of business trips and literary-cultural expeditions, as a result of social inquiry, collection, collection of information, necessary information, card file formation, comparative-historical, descriptive, etymological analysis, chronological, sorting, selection, literary-theoretical and textual analysis, translation, etc. methods are used.

As a result of the project, articles or reviews related to literary and linguistic tourism, toponymy and legendary stories of the East Kazakhstan will be published in peer-reviewed journals corresponding to the Web of Science database Social Science Citation Index or the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, as well as the Arts and Humanities Citation Index or CiteScore from the Scopus database. Scientific articles are published in peer-reviewed foreign and (or) domestic, as well as republican and international publications, recommended by the Committee for Quality Assurance in the Field of Science and Higher Education of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

At the scientific-practical conferences, reports on the project will be made and a separate page on the project theme will be opened on the official website of the East Kazakhstan University named after Sarsen Amanzholov. Presentations, round tables, seminars, conferences and forums will be held on a large scale. Media and educational institutions, organizations related to culture and tourism will also be involved.

– The necessary reference will be made to attract a large number of tourists to the East Kazakhstan region, where nature is a great interest.  It contains an explanatory dictionary of the main tourist destinations (routes), ethno-cultural, recreational points and toponyms found along the route.

– The guidebook will be written in three languages (Kazakh, Russian, English) and a photo album of tourist places will be created. It will also include statistical data on the distance of each settlement, natural object, cultural place from the district and regional centers and how many people live in the settlements. The guidebook can be an invaluable reference for travelers traveling by car, horse, bike or on foot.

– The first toponymy tourist isogloss map of the East Kazakhstan will be drawn and a digital version of the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) map will be created.

– “Tourism and Toponymy Digital Dictionary of the East Kazakhstan” will be compiled.

– Digital chrestomatics “Local legends of the East Kazakhstan” will be published.

– The monograph “Literary and linguistic tourism of the East Kazakhstan” will be published.

– 1 PhD dissertation will be defended within the scope of the project theme.

All published materials, including domestic and foreign journals, materials of international conferences, textbooks and monographs, indicate the name and registration identification number of the project, as well as the source of grant funding.

Expected results

Based on the results of the implementation of scientific and (or) scientific and technical projects, at least the following results will be obtained during the entire period of project implementation:

– The results of the project work to attract more tourists to the East Kazakhstan region, which has a promising future in the development of tourism, can be advertising.

– Literary and linguistic tourism, toponyms and legends of the East Kazakhstan, the concept of nature and man in regional literature will be studied theoretically and methodologically and will compared with world experience.

– By comparing the creation of an etymological dictionary of land and water names in world practice, effective ways to solve it will be identified and described.

– Data on literary and linguistics, toponymy and legendary stories of tourist settlements and shrines, as well as regional literature will be collected.

– The project website dedicated to the project topic is operational on the official website of the East Kazakhstan University named after Sarsen Amanzholov. Articles published in domestic and foreign publications related to the project will be uploaded to the website.

– Foreign internships and advanced training courses are planned to develop the scientific potential of the project members.

– At least 3 (three)  articles or reviews based on literary and linguistic analyses of the literary and linguistic tourism of the East Kazakhstan, its toponymy and legends, and the description of the natural landscape in regional literature will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific publication indexed in the Web of Science database’s Social Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, and/or having a Cite Score of at least 35 percent in the Scopus database; at least 6 (six) articles or reviews in a peer-reviewed foreign or domestic publication recommended by the CCSES, and 5 (five) articles in the proceedings of international, republican, and regional scientific and practical conferences. Information and advocacy work will be carried out in the media.

– An international scientific and practical conference “Literary and Linguistic Tourism of the East Kazakhstan: Present and Future” will be held.

– The first toponymic tourist isogloss map of the East Kazakhstan will be drawn, and a digital version of the GIS (Geographic Information System) map will be created.

– A trilingual (Kazakh, Russian, English) route guidebook for tourists will be developed.

– A photo album of tourist sites in the East Kazakhstan region will be created.

As a result of the project research, the following specific products will be produced:

– “Digital Dictionary of Tourist Toponyms of the East Kazakhstan” (at least 10 p.p.)

– Digital anthology “Toponymic Legends of the East Kazakhstan” (at least 10 p.p.)

– Monograph “Literary and Linguistic Tourism of the East Kazakhstan” (at least 10 p.p.)

– 1 doctoral dissertation will be defended within the framework of the project topic.