Abstract
<jats:p>This article provides a comprehensive analysis of hair-related rites of passage in the family-ritual folklore of Kazakh and Turkic peoples from an ethnolinguistic and cultural-semiotic perspective. The aim of the study is to determine the semantic structure, associative field, and function of linguistic units related to hair in family-ritual folklore texts as a cultural code in the national worldview. From an ethnolinguistic perspective, the concept of hair is viewed in folk lore as a link between worlds, a seat of the soul and vital energy, a symbol of strength, beauty and health, well-being and honor, age, and marital status. The study utilized legends, fairy tales, family ritual folklore genres, as well as proverbs, sayings, and ethnographic data. These sources allow us to identify the linguistic and symbolic function of ritual actions associated with hair (braiding, combing, and letting down hair) in recording transitional stages of the human life cycle (virginity – bride – widowhood). This article examines the ritual triad of “braiding hair, combing hair, and letting hair down during mourning” as a structural and functional model, defining the semantic meaning and pragmatic function of each of its components</jats:p>