Pdf geoffrey lewis, the turkish language reform, a. The grammar of a language also may be changed to simplify inflection, syntax, vocabulary and word formation. My subject this evening is the turkish language reform. With gagauz, azerbaijani sometimes called azeri, turkmen, and khorasan turkic, it forms the.
The ottoman alphabet was based on the arabic alphabet, which was replaced in 1928 by the new, latinbased turkish alphabet. Turkish is a member of the oghuz group of languages, a subgroup of the turkic language family. It is based on the authors knowledge, experience and continuing study of the language, history, and people of turkey. Atay, who was on the governments language commission, that by carrying out the reform we were going to cleanse the turkish mind from its arabic roots. Turkish language reform began as a language simplification effort by literary figures of the late 19th century, gathering momentum in the 1920s and 1930s to become a largescale planning activity to save turkish from domination by foreign influences. Some linguists believe the turkic languages to be a part of a larger altaic language family. Incorporating much new material, this new edition of the standard work presents an authoritative, lucid, and engaging text, setting out every form and construction of pre and postreform turkish that may be encountered in print, as well as colloquial usages. Six turkish letters are unfamiliar to the american students eye. This is the first account of the transformation of the turkish language in the years following 1930probably the most extensive piece of language engineering ever attempted. The way to reform turkish is not to throw all th e arabic and persia wordn s ou t of this language but to throw out all arabi c and persia rulen s an d abandon all th e arabic and persia wordn s whic h hav turkise equivalentsh lettin, thosg e wit h no turkish equivalent survivs ien the language gokal 391923. The goal was to produce a language more turkish, modern, practical, and precise, and less difficult to learn than the old language.
Geoffrey lewis the turkish language reform a catastrophic. A catastrophic success see this post, i thought id share some bits that i found interesting, enlightening, or amusing. Grammar and workbooks comprise an accessible reference to grammar and related exercises. The most common form of language reform involves changing the orthography of words. Turkish language, the major member of the turkic language family, which is a subfamily of the altaic languages. The turkish language reform, a catastrophic success, by geoffroy lewis 2002 road to turkish language reform and the rise of turkish nationalism by aaron johnson 2004 turkish language reform, a step in the modernization of islam in turkey by carl max kortepeter 1954. Using a historical approach, we have first determined the role of language in the earlier islamicoriented, ottoman society. Turkish language learning books for selfstudy learn. The republican language reform consisted of two basic elements adoption of a new alphabet and purification of the vocabulary. Turkish 1930s language and writing system were reformed starting in the 1920s, to the point that the older language is called by a different name, ottoman turkish. The language revolution dil devrimi in turkish officially began in 1928. Brought up on the poetry of burns, gibb was born in glasgow in 1857. That transformation of the turkish language is probably the most thoroughgoing piece of linguistics engineering in history.
This thesis represents an attempt to understand the present direction of turkish society in terms of its various linguistic and literary reforms. This range has political implications, in that traditional vocabulary is preferred by rightwing, traditionalist, and religious sectors of the population, while reformed terms are preferred by leftwing, modernist, and secular sectors. A catastrophic success is a presentation of the wild transformation of standard turkish over the course of the 20th century. After the foundation of the republic of turkey and the script reform, the turkish language association tdk was established in 1932 under the patronage of mustafa kemal ataturk, with the aim of conducting research on turkish. The first part covers generalities, providing an introduction to the grammatical traditions, subgrouping and writing systems of this language family. It is the 15th most widely spoken language in the world. The principle of turkish language reform thus was tied intimately to the reforms of the 183978 period see external threats and internal transformations, ch. A catastrophic success, by geoffrey lewis, has just arrived thanks, ken. Contact ali akpinar if you need questions about this turkish language material, need help with this material or have problems with your download. Turkish language project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks.
Turkce or ottoman turkish, and it was heavily cluttered with persian and arabic vocabulary. The spread of the ottoman empire led to the inclusion of a lot of arabic and persian words. Its speakers are located predominantly in turkey and northern cyprus with smaller groups in iraq, greece, bulgaria, the republic of macedonia, kosovo, albania and other parts of eastern europe. This is a must have for anyone speaking english and starting to learn turkish language. The book is important both for the study of linguistic change and for the light it throws on twentiethcentury turkish politics and society. Language reform simple english wikipedia, the free. Pdf on oct 1, 2002, ismail aydingun and others published geoffrey lewis, the turkish language reform, a catastrophic success. The politics of turkish language reform emmanuel szurek by ottoman history podcast published on 20170105t01.
Jan 01, 1999 geoffrey lewis the turkish language reform. The turkic languages examines the modern languages within this wideranging language family and gives an historical overview of their development. The need was there because of a lack of standardisation and huge amount of ambiguity in ottoman turkish, a language that was a mish mash of anatolian dialects, persian and arabic. Turkish is a member of the turkish, or western, subgroup of the oghuz languages, which includes gagauz and azeri. Hence, one of the most controversial features of the programs of westernization and modernization fostered by kemal ataturk in turkey and reza shah in iran was that of statesponsored language reform, characterized chiefly by attempts to purify turkish and persian of their centuriesold accretion of arabic loanwords. Turkish language yenisehir wiki fandom powered by wikia. Professor lewis both acquaints the general reader with the often bizarre, sometimes tragicomic but never dull story of the reform, and provides a lively and incisive account for students of turkish and the relations between culture, politics and language with some stimulating reading. However, some say that the move was also to distance the country from the ottoman empire, whose documents can no longer be read except by a few scholars. Thesis road to turkish language reform and the rise of. Suitable for independent study and for class use, it introduces turkish people and culture through the medium of the language used today, covering the core material that students would expect to encounter in their first year of learning turkish.
Oct 05, 2016 are you referring to the period when ataturk changed the script for turkish. It happened it 1932 and it was his idea to change the script for turkish from the arabic one that it used to the latin script and replace persian and arabic words with th. National language politics and the transformation of literacy have effected major changes in both spoken and written language over the course of the last century, but few languages have changed as dramatically as modern turkish. The turkish language reform started in the 1930s and is still continuing, working to return turkish to its turkish roots. The book is important both for the study of linguistic change and for the light it throws.
The turkish language reform basics of turkish grammar. Later in the nineteenth century, language reform became a political issue. Language reform simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Turkish grammar geoffrey lewis oxford university press. The turkish language around 1930 was largely what we now call osmanl. The latter part of the book focuses on descriptions of the individual languages themselves. This way it can be considered as a grammar of modern turkish. He continued living in the family home at lochwood until he was thirtytwo, whereupon he moved to london to continue his studies of turkish poetry. As a result of turkish language reform, modern turkish spans a range of styles from traditional to reformed. Reviewed by ali eminov, wayne state college language reform in turkey was a deliberate campaign to purify turkish by eliminating the arabic and persian grammatical features and the many thousands of arabic and persian borrowings that had long been part of the language 2 and substituting turkish grammatical features and word for these. The turkish language has changed a great deal in just the past century. The literacy rate indeed increased greatly after the reform, from around 20% to over 90%. Turkish is spoken in turkey, cyprus, and elsewhere in europe and the middle east. Although in all these migrant communities there is a tendency for the use of turkish to decline with each succeeding generation, it can probably be stated with reasonable certainty that turkish is spoken as a first language or with native fluency by about 65 million people worldwide.
The pocket dictionary was not published for the purpose of turning back from this work i. Having read the first couple of chapters of the turkish language reform. Turkish is a majority language in the turkish republic of northern cyprus but it has a distinct. Jan 20, 2009 the first advocate of turkish language reform was a scotsman by the name of elias john wilkinson gibb.
January 12, 2012 by languagehat 17 comments having read the first couple of chapters of the turkish language reform. The first advocate of turkish language reform was a scotsman by the name of elias john wilkinson gibb. With gagauz, azerbaijani sometimes called azeri, turkmen, and khorasan turkic, it forms the southwestern, or oguz, branch of the turkic languages. Ottoman turkish was an arcane written language understandable only to a.
The language and alphabet reform was a success, the catastrophe was the loss of understanding historical records and literature. A big advantage of this grammar is that it has been revised in 2000. The politics of turkish language reform emmanuel szurek. The oghuz languages form the southwestern subgroup of the turkic languages, a language family comprising some 30 living languages spoken across eastern europe, central asia, and siberia. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between turkish and the other oghuz languages, including azerbaijani, turkmen, qashqai, gagauz, and balkan gagauz turkish. The everyday turkish, known as kaba turkce or rough turkish, spoken by the lesseducated lower and also rural members of society, contained a higher percentage of native vocabulary and served as basis for the modern turkish language. The language reform, replacing arabic script with a phonetic version of the the latin alphabet and ridding the language of words of arabic, persian or european origin, was conducted alongside other political, religious and social reforms that continue to influence modern turkey. Ottoman turkish was an arcane written language understandable only to a tiny elite, filled with arabic and persian constructions. The turkish languages transition from the ottoman to latin alphabet, known at the time as the letter revolution or harf ink. The reform of the language from the 1920s onward, which not only replaced the ottoman alphabet with a new latinbased.
Turkish language simple english wikipedia, the free. Though the reform has not been so drastic in its effect on the spoken language, it has made everything written before the early 1930s, and much that has been written since, increasingly obscure to each new generation. The language and alphabet reform was a success, the catastrophe was the loss of. January 5, 2012 by languagehat 33 comments my copy of the turkish language reform. Pdf the turkish language reform and intralingual translation. Its prelude came in 1928, when the arabopersian alphabet. The first was a sudden and comprehensive change in the medium in. Turkish nationalists sought a language that would unite rather than divide the people. In this paper, i describe turkish language reform within the framework of a general approach to language planning, and discuss the historical, social and cultural facts which created the basis for language reform in turkey. If youre trying to learn turkish, check our courses below about adjectives, adverbs, articles, gender feminine, masculine. This thesis examines the concurrent changes in turkish identity and in the turkish language from the early developments in the period of the modernizing tanzimat reforms to the anatolian turkish nationalism and the alphabet and language reform of the republican era. I gave my book about it the subtitle a catastrophic success. Finally, i evaluate the present state of the turkish language in relation to the goals of the language reform. Effects of turkish language reform on person perception.