Abstract
The study aims to identify and systematize the linguistic approaches and principles used to represent time and space categories in recent sociolinguistic research and to examine respondents’ perceptions of the sociolinguistic factors influencing language functioning and development. The article presents the results of an analytical review of linguistic approaches and principles underlying the representation of the categories of time and space in sociolinguistic studies published between 2024 and 2026, as well as the findings of an empirical study conducted in 2025-2026 among university teachers and master's students from the North Kazakhstan Region with the participation of several international scholars. The results of the literature review are systematized in a table, while the findings of the empirical study are presented in the form of diagrams and subjected to further analysis. The study employed the methods of analysis, synthesis, structuring, and generalization of both the data collected by the authors and the findings reported in previously published research. The results indicate that the majority of the fifty-two respondents prefer the diachronic approach as one of the principal approaches to conducting research. The respondents tend to take into account the relationship between language and social context and regard neologisms and borrowings as significant factors influencing language functioning. The authors conclude that, despite acknowledging the impact of language digitalization and artificial intelligence, the respondents continue to rely on the traditional historical (diachronic) perspective as one of the stable mental frameworks for conceptualizing time and space.