The Turkish Language

Overview

• The Turkish Language belongs to the Altay branch of the Ural-Altay linguistic family.More than 90 percent of all contemporary speakers of Altaic languages speak a Turkish language.The Turkish language at present is being heavily spoken in the following countries and regions: Turkey, Northern Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Ozbekistan, Turkistan, Kazakistan, Kirgizistan, Tajikistan and so on.

History - The Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Turkish was a mixture of Turkish, Arabic and Persian.

Ottoman script was a Perso-Arabic.

The Republic of Turkey is the successor state of The Ottoman Empire.

The Standard Turkish

Spoken as first language by over 70 million people, official language of The Republic of Turkey, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic, adopted a Latin based alphabet instead of Ottoman script in 1928, and founded Language Association to purify Turkish from loanwords.

Turkish Grammar

SOV Vowel –Consonant harmony Phonetic language Agglutinative language (words are formed by joining

morphemes together.) Example: Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmısınız?

( “Are you one of those that we could not have possibly turned into a Checkoslavakian?”)

Cekoslavakya = Checkoslavakiali = fromlas = reflexive suffixtir = causative suffixa = abilityma = negationdi = past tensek = first person plurallar = plurali = harmony suffixmiz = first person pluraldan = frommi = question suffixsiniz = second person plural

Turkish Grammar (cont.)

Turkish Grammar (cont.)

There is no gender in Turkish. The same word , "o", for example, means "he", "she"

and "it". Turkish has little or no gender differentiating system.

Turkish has a T-V distinction: Second person singular: SEN (Informal) Second person plural: SİZ (Formal)

Nasilsin? Nasilsiniz? (How are you?)Hoşgeldin Hoşgeldiniz (Welcome)

Turkish Language and Culture - Kinship Words

• mother – anne• father – baba• son - oğul, oğlan• daughter – kız

• uncle - dayı (maternal), amca (paternal)• aunt - teyze (maternal), hala (paternal)

• nephew – yeğen• niece - yeğen (for both)

• brother - erkek kardeş• big brother – ağabey• sister - kız kardeş• big sister – abla• cousin - kuzen

Kinship words (cont.)

grandmother - büyük anne, anneanne, kadınnine (mother's), nine, babaanne (father's)

grandfather - büyük baba (mother's), dede (father's) grandson - erkek torun granddaughter - kız torun

mother-in-law - kaynana, kayınvalide father-in-law - kaynata, kayınbaba, kayınpeder son-in-law – damat daughter-in-law – gelin brother-in-law - kayınbirader, kayınço sister-in-law – baldız, *Husband’s brother’s wife: elti

*Wife’s sister’s husband: bacanak

• wife - karı• husband - koca

Kinship words (cont.) - 7 words for a brother

1. kardeş : the general word (Turkish has little or no gender differentiating system) for the people whose mother and father are the same.(for both male and female)

2. ağabey : elder brother abla:elder sister

3. abi: colloqual for "ağabey"4. erkek kardeş : used both for older or younger brother ("erkek"

means "male“)5. ağa : in some rural areas it is used for "ağabey" (It has got

some variations but I don't think it is worth mentioning. Similar pronunciations)

6. birader : It is a loan word form Persian. Exactly means "brother" and used quite commonly.

7. kanka : is the abbreviated form of "kan kardeşi" (blood brother)and commonly used meaning "my best friend"

Meeting and Greeting

Shake hands firmly. (Friends and relations would greet each other with two kisses on the cheek.)

Elders are always respected by kissing their right hand then placing the forehead onto the hand.

Greet people with either the Islamic greeting of 'Asalamu alaykum' (peace be upon you) or Merhaba 'Nasilsiniz?’

It is traditional to ask about family members. How is your mother, father, your kids, your wife.....?

Turkish Politeness

The Turkish Language has many stock politeness phrases to be muttered on appropriate occasions: greetings, farewells, at mealtimes, condolences.

Even if one breaks some belonging, (canin sagolsun) Well-wishes when one gets a haircut -emerges from

the Turkish bath- (Sihhatler olsun) Kolay Gelsin!!

Nazar Boncuğu

Turks are very superstitious !!

When a child is born, relatives and friends give her/him an evil eye. Usually the family hangs in the child a ‘nazar boncuğu’ The evil eye can be made of gold depending on the wealth of the family.

The "nazar boncuğu" can also be put in the entrance of the house, outside of the house, in the office, in the car, it can also be used as a jewellery.

Türk Kahvesi

Bir fincan kahvenin kırk yıl hatırı vardır.

Culture Shock

The habit of removing the shoes before entering home. The reason is good and simple: cleanliness !

Turkish men greet each other by cheek kissing. This is a normal thing to see in Turkey. Man kisses man, woman

kisses woman.