Turkish dialects

Not to be confused with Turkic languages.
Turkish dialects map: Main subgroups

There is considerable dialectal variation in Turkish.

Turkish is a southern Oghuz language belonging to the Turkic languages. Turkish is natively and historically spoken by the Turkish people in Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece (primarily in Western Thrace), Kosovo, Meskhetia, North Macedonia, Romania, Iraq, Syria and other areas of traditional settlement which formerly, in whole or part, belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Turkish is the official language of Turkey, the de facto country of North Cyprus and is one of the official languages of Cyprus. It also has official (but not primary) status in the Prizren District of Kosovo and several municipalities of North Macedonia, depending on the concentration of Turkish-speaking local population. Modern standard Turkish is based on the dialect of Istanbul.[1] Nonetheless, dialectal variation persists, in spite of the levelling influence of the standard used in mass media and the Turkish education system since the 1930s.[2] The terms ağız or şive are often used to refer to the different types of Turkish dialects (such as Cypriot Turkish).

Balkan Turkish dialects

Main article: Balkan Gagauz language

The Turkish language was introduced to the Balkans by the Ottoman Turks during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.[3] Today, Turkish is still spoken by the Turkish minorities who are still living in the region, especially in Bulgaria, Greece (mainly in Western Thrace), Serbia, North Macedonia, and Romania.[4] Balkans Ottoman Turkish dialects were first described at the beginning of the 20th century, and are called Rumelian—a term introduced by Gyula Németh in 1956.[5] Németh also established the basic division between Eastern Rumelian and Western Rumelian group of dialects. The bundle of isoglosses separating the two groups roughly follows the Bulgarian yat border.[5] The eight basic Western Rumelian Turkish features are:

  1. /ı/, /u/, /ü/ > /i/ word-finally
  2. the suffix -miş used for forming perfect (indefinite past) tense is not subject to vowel harmony, i.e. it is invariant
  3. /i/ > /ı/ in noninitial and closed final syllables
  4. /ö/ > /oa/, /o/ and /ü/ > /ua/, /u/ in many words
  5. generalization of one of two possible forms in suffixes with low vowel harmony
  6. /ö/ > /ü/ in about 40 words, usually in a syllable-initial position
  7. retention of Ottoman Turkish /ğ/ as /g/
  8. the progressive past participle ending is not -yor but -y

Additional features have been suggested such as the fronting of /k/ and /g/ to palatal affricates or stops, and the loss of /h/, especially in a word-initial position.[5]

Rumelian Turkish dialects are the source of Turkish loanwords in Balkan languages, not the modern standard Turkish language which is based on the Istanbul dialect.[6] For example, Serbo-Croatian kàpija/капија "large gate" comes from Rumelian kapi, not standard Turkish kapı.[6] The Rumelian Turkish dialect is spoken in East Thrace, the European side of Turkey, in the provinces of Edirne, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ.[7]

Cypriot Turkish dialect

Main article: Cypriot Turkish

The Turkish language was introduced to Cyprus with the Ottoman conquest in 1571 and became the politically dominant, prestigious language of the administration.[8] In the post-Ottoman period, Cypriot Turkish was relatively isolated from standard Turkish and had strong influences from the Cypriot Greek dialect. The condition of exposure to Greek Cypriots led to a certain bilingualism whereby Turkish Cypriots' knowledge of Greek was important in areas where the two communities lived in mixed areas.[9] The linguistic situation changed radically in 1974, when the island was divided into a Greek south and a Turkish north (Northern Cyprus). Today, the Cypriot Turkish dialect is being exposed to increasing standard Turkish through immigration from Turkey, new mass media, and new educational institutions.[8]

Karamanli Turkish

Main article: Karamanli Turkish

Karamanli Turkish is a dialect spoken by the Karamanlide people who were a natively Turkish-speaking, Greek Orthodox community living in Central Anatolia prior to the population exchange and their deportation. It is verbally the same as the typical Central Anatolian dialect of Turkish but is written with the Greek alphabet.

Meskhetian Turkish dialect

The Meskhetian Turks speak an Eastern Anatolian dialect of Turkish, which hails from the regions of Kars, Ardahan, Iğdır and Artvin.[10] The Meskhetian Turkish dialect has also borrowed from other languages (including Azerbaijani, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Russian, and Uzbek) which the Meskhetian Turks have been in contact with during the Russian and Soviet rule.[10]

Syrian Turkmen dialect

Syrian Turkmens are a result of series of migrations throughout the history to the region either from Anatolia and the neighboring regions to the east or directly from Central Asia. The number of Turkmens in Syria is estimated to be up to a million, living mostly in the Turkmen Mountain region and north of Aleppo, but also in Homs and Quneitra Governorate.[11] Under the rule of the Ba'ath party in Syria, the Turkmens suffered under a heavy assimilation policy and were forbidden to write or publish in Turkish.[12] Due to the large area that Syrian Turkmen live, the dialects of these people vary according to the place they live. The Turkmens of the region surrounding Aleppo mostly speak a dialect similar to the Gaziantep and Kilis dialects of Turkish, while those living in the Turkmen Mountain region speak a dialect similar to the Turkish population of Hatay.

Romani Turkish dialect

The Romani people in Turkey speak their own Turkish dialect with some Romani words.[13] This is same for the Romani people living in former Ottoman territories including Greece, Romania, the others and speaking Turkish.

Danube Turkish dialect

The Danube Turkish dialect was once spoken by Turks inhabiting Ada Kaleh. It was based on Ottoman Turkish with Hungarian, Serbian, Romanian, and German words.[14]

Turkish within the diaspora

Due to a large Turkish diaspora, significant Turkish-speaking communities also reside in countries such as Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[15] However, because of cultural assimilation of Turkish immigrants and their descendants in host countries, not all ethnic Turks speak the Turkish language with native fluency.[16]

Anatolian dialects

There are three major Anatolian Turkish dialect groups spoken in Turkey: the West Anatolian dialect (roughly to the west of the Euphrates), the East Anatolian dialect (to the east of the Euphrates), and the North East Anatolian group, which comprises the dialects of the Eastern Black Sea coast, such as Trabzon, Rize, and the littoral districts of Artvin.[17][18]

The classification of the Anatolian dialects of the Turkish language:[19]

1. Eastern Anatolian Dialects

1.1.1. Ağrı, Malazgirt
1.1.2. Muş, Bitlis
1.1.3. Ahlat, Adilcevaz, Bulanık, Van
1.1.4. Diyarbakır
1.1.5. Palu, Karakoçan, Bingöl, Karlıova, Siirt
1.2.1. Kars (Yerli)
1.2.2. Erzurum, Aşkale, Ovacık, Narman
1.2.3. Pasinler, Horasan, Hınıs, Tekman, Karayazı, Tercan (partim)
1.2.4. Bayburt, İspir (excl. northern), Erzincan, Çayırlı, Tercan (partim)
1.2.5. Gümüşhane
1.2.6. Refahiye, Kemah
1.2.7. Kars (Azeri and Terekeme)
1.3.1. Posof, Artvin, Şavşat, Ardanuç, Yusufeli
1.3.2.1. Ardahan, Olur, Oltu, Şenkaya; Ahıska Turks (Georgia)
1.3.2.2. Tortum
1.3.2.3. İspir (northern)
1.4.1. Kemaliye, İliç, Ağın
1.4.2. Tunceli, Hozat, Mazgirt, Pertek
1.4.3. Harput
1.4.4. Elazığ, Keban, Baskil

2. Northeastern Anatolian Dialects

2.1.1. Vakfıkebir, Akçaabat, Tonya, Maçka, Of, Çaykara
2.1.2. Trabzon, Yomra, Sürmene, Araklı, Rize, Kalkandere, İkizdere
2.2.1. Çayeli
2.2.2. Çamlıhemşin, Pazar, Hemşin, Ardeşen, Fındıklı
2.3.1. Arhavi, Hopa, Kemalpaşa
2.3.2. Hopa (a little part)
2.3.3. Borçka, Muratlı, Camili, Meydancık, Ortaköy (Berta) bucak of Artvin (merkez)

3. Western Anatolian Dialects

  • (3.0) TRT Turkish (Istanbul) - considered as "standard".

3.1.1. Afyonkarahisar, Eskişehir, Uşak, Nallıhan
3.1.2. Çanakkale, Balıkesir, Bursa, Bilecik
3.1.3. Aydın, Burdur, Denizli, Isparta, İzmir, Kütahya, Manisa, Muğla
3.1.4. Antalya
3.2. İzmit, Sakarya
3.3.1. Zonguldak, Devrek, Ereğli
3.3.2. Bartın, Çaycuma, Amasra
3.3.3. Bolu, Ovacık, Eskipazar, Karabük, Safranbolu, Ulus, Eflani, Kurucaşile
3.3.4. Kastamonu
3.4.1. Göynük, Mudurnu, Kıbrıscık, Seben
3.4.2. Kızılcahamam, Beypazarı, Çamlıdere, Güdül, Ayaş
3.4.3. Çankırı, İskilip, Kargı, Bayat, Osmancık, Tosya, Boyabat
3.5.1. Sinop, Alaçam
3.5.2. Samsun, Kavak, Çarşamba, Terme
3.5.3. Ordu, Giresun, Şalpazarı
3.6.1. Ladik, Havza, Amasya, Tokat, Erbaa, Niksar, Turhal, Reşadiye, Almus
3.6.2. Zile, Artova, Sivas, Yıldızeli, Hafik, Zara, Mesudiye
3.6.3. Şebinkarahisar, Alucra, Suşehri
3.6.4. Kangal, Divriği, Gürün, Malatya, Hekimhan, Arapkir
3.7.1. Akçadağ, Darende, Doğanşehir
3.7.2. Afşin, Elbistan, Göksun, Andırın, Adana, Hatay, Tarsus, Ereğli
3.7.3. Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep
3.7.4. Adıyaman, Halfeti, Birecik, Kilis
3.8. Ankara, Haymana, Balâ, Şereflikoçhisar, Çubuk, Kırıkkale, Keskin, Kalecik, Kızılırmak, Çorum, Yozgat, Kırşehir, Nevşehir, Niğde, Kayseri, Şarkışla, Gemerek
3.9. Konya, Mersin

References

  1. ^ Campbell 1998, p. 547
  2. ^ Johanson 2001, 16.
  3. ^ Johanson 2011, 732.
  4. ^ Johanson 2011, 734-738.
  5. ^ a b c Friedman, Victor (1982), "Balkanology and Turkology: West Rumelian Turkish in Yugoslavia as reflected in prescriptive grammar" (PDF), Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics (PDF), 2, Amsterdam: Rodopi: 1–77
  6. ^ a b Matasović, Ranko (2008), Poredbenopovijesna gramatika hrvatskoga jezika (in Croatian), Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, p. 311, Kao izvor su turcizama u hrvatskome, kao i u većini balkanskih jezika, poslužili rumelijski dijalekti turskoga jezika, koji se mnogim osobinama razlikuju od maloazijskih dijalekata na temelju kojih je izgrađen suvremeni turski standard
  7. ^ Tosun, İlker (October 2019). "Turkish Studies - Language and Literature". pp. 1561–1572. doi:10.29228/TurkishStudies.23006.
  8. ^ a b Johanson 2011, 738.
  9. ^ Johanson 2011, 739.
  10. ^ a b Aydıngün et al. 2006, 23.
  11. ^ "A Look at the Turkmen Community in Syria". Voice of America. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  12. ^ "Who are the Turkmen in Syria?". BBC. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  13. ^ Bakker, Peter (2001). "Romani and Turkish". In Igla, Birgit; Stolz, Thomas (eds.). 'Was ich noch sagen wollte…': A multilingual Festschrift for Norbert Boretzky on occasion of his 65th birthday. pp. 303–326. doi:10.1515/9783050079851-022. ISBN 978-3-05-007985-1.
  14. ^ Krámský, J (1958). "'J. Németh,' Zur Einteilung der türkischen Mundarten Bulgariens (Book Review)". Archiv Orientální. 26 (2). Praha: 327–329. ProQuest 1304093773.
  15. ^ Gordon, Raymond G. Jr. (2005). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Report for language code:tur (Turkish)". Retrieved 2011-09-04.
  16. ^ Johanson 2011, 734.
  17. ^ Brendemoen 2002, 27.
  18. ^ Brendemoen 2006, 227.
  19. ^ Karahan, Leylâ (1996). Anadolu Ağızlarının Sınıflandırılması. Türk Dil Kurumu.

Bibliography

  • Aydıngün, Ayşegül; Harding, Çiğdem Balım; Hoover, Matthew; Kuznetsov, Igor; Swerdlow, Steve (2006), Meskhetian Turks: An Introduction to their History, Culture, and Resettelment Experiences (PDF), Center for Applied Linguistics, archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-14
  • Brendemoen, Bernt (2002), The Turkish Dialects of Trabzon: Analysis, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 3447045701.
  • Brendemoen, Bernt (2006), "Ottoman or Iranian? An example of Turkic-Iranian language contact in East Anatolian dialects", in Johanson, Lars; Bulut, Christiane (eds.), Turkic-Iranian Contact Areas: Historical and Linguistic Aspects, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 3447052767.
  • Campbell, George L. (1998), Concise Compendium of the World's Languages, Psychology Press, ISBN 0415160499.
  • Friedman, Victor A. (2003), Turkish in Macedonia and Beyond: Studies in Contact, Typology and other Phenomena in the Balkans and the Caucasus, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 3447046406.
  • Friedman, Victor A. (2006), "Western Rumelian Turkish in Macedonia and adjacent areas", in Boeschoten, Hendrik; Johanson, Lars (eds.), Turkic Languages in Contact, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 3447052120.
  • Johanson, Lars (2001), Discoveries on the Turkic Linguistic Map (PDF), Stockholm: Svenska Forskningsinstitutet i Istanbul
  • Johanson, Lars (2011), "Multilingual states and empires in the history of Europe: the Ottoman Empire", in Kortmann, Bernd; Van Der Auwera, Johan (eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide, Volume 2, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3110220254