MAHMUD KASHGARI'S “DIWAN LUGHAT AL-TURK” AS A PRIMARY SOURCE FOR THE ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF TURKIC PEOPLES

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  • Azimova Zebiniso Karimovna

    Master's student at Asia International University

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Abstract

This article analyses the significance of Mahmud Kashgari's Diwan Lughat al-Turk (compiled c. 1072–1074) as a primary source for the ethnographic study of Turkic peoples. Although structured as a comparative lexicon of Turkic dialects compiled for an Arabic-speaking audience, the work contains an exceptional density of ethnographic data encompassing material culture, social organisation, religious beliefs, oral literature, and ecological knowledge. The study employs systematic textual analysis to identify, classify, and quantify ethnographic information units embedded across the three volumes of the compilation. A total of 1,842 ethnographically relevant lexical items were identified from a corpus of more than 7,500 entries, representing 24.6 per cent of the total lexical stock. Data were organised into six thematic categories and subjected to comparative analysis against other eleventh–thirteenth-century Turkic literary sources and contemporary ethnographic field data. The analysis demonstrates a 62.2 per cent lexical-cultural continuity between the text and living Uzbek, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz ethnographic traditions. The article argues that Kashgari's work constitutes an irreplaceable, multi-layered ethnographic record and offers methodological recommendations for its systematic integration into contemporary Central Asian ethnography, digital humanities, and interdisciplinary heritage studies.

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References

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Published
2026-06-02
Issue
Vol. 14 No. 05 (2026): IFSMRC African International Journal of Research in Management (AIJRM)
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Articles
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How to Cite

Azimova Zebiniso Karimovna. (2026). MAHMUD KASHGARI’S “DIWAN LUGHAT AL-TURK” AS A PRIMARY SOURCE FOR THE ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF TURKIC PEOPLES. IFSMRC African International Journal of Research in Management, 14(05), 946-953. https://ifsmrc.org/index.php/aijrm/article/view/295

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