Discourse and Identity in the Medial Space of Kazakhstan

The article presents an analysis of modern Kazakhstani discourse, which is considered as a constructed text. Statistical data on media preferences confirm author's conclusions on the characteristic features of Kazakhstani mass consciousness, including those expressed in the medial space. In this paper, we analyze the psychological, semiotic, sociological, culturological and psycholinguistic approaches to the phenomena of the medial sphere. Within the framework of the critical discourse analysis theory, the article outlines the rhetorical strategies of social cognition and perception, expressed in mass consciousness. We also make an attempt to compare the newest cognitive studies of the language in American practice with the leading European discourse studies. On the basis of the selected correlation of cognitive theory and the theory of medial analysis, the author develops a model of analysis for conceptual space of the media discourse. The thesis of Sovietization of Kazakhstani medial space is confirmed by the analysis of samples of mass culture and rhetorical features of Kazakhstani discourse. In the work we present exclusive psycholinguistic data – associative fields to the ideological concepts of linguistic consciousness, which have a predictive nature for interdisciplinary research. The article reveals the trends and examples of official and mass discourse – the ideological "products" of our time: from the surviving Soviet cliches to the newly created national identity. The revealed features of the Kazakhstani media discourse have specific character of the manifestation of post – Soviet culture. It shows that, the return to traditional attitudes was reflected in the rhetorical strategies of communication, and is revealed by the authors of this article.