Abstract
This paper examines the linguo‑pragmatic functions of periphrasis in Kazakh literary discourse and media discourse. Periphrasis is treated as an indirect descriptive naming strategy with strong nominative, expressive‑evaluative and euphemistic potential. The study aims to compare how periphrastic units are used in fiction and in journalistic texts and to identify their mechanisms of pragmatic influence on the addressee. The scholarly value of the research lies in approaching periphrasis not only as a stylistic trope that embellishes speech, but also as a discourse‑strategic, text‑forming and persuasive device. Its practical value is linked to media‑text editing, text interpretation, and the teaching of stylistics and media linguistics. Methodologically, the article follows an interpretive functional approach. Еxamples selected from Kazakh prose and periodical media texts are analysed through contextual reading, pragmatic interpretation, comparative description and functional classification. The findings show that aesthetic imagery and psychological characterisation dominate in literary discourse, whereas media discourse amplifies attention‑drawing, evaluative, euphemising, cliché‑forming and potentially manipulative functions. The study therefore clarifies the cross‑discursive nature of periphrasis and contributes to systematising secondary nomination patterns in contemporary Kazakh media language.