Evolution of Turkish - 1

The Evolution of Turkish - 1

Every nation has its own turning points. Points which deflect the nation from its ongoing path. The Turkish nation has had 2 great turning point of this sort. The First breaking point was towards the end of the 10^th century, when the Turks adopted Islam and entered a pot of civilizations heavily influenced by Arabic and Farsi cultures.

They abandoned the equestrian nomadic culture and entered the Middle Eastern Culture. This shift inherently affected the Turkish culture, and by doing so, the Turkish language. This interplay was so intense that the Turks changed the alphabet they used, from the old Orkhon Alphabet to the Farsi alphabet.

Hacivat and Karagöz

Following this revolutionary alteration, two different utilizations of the language emerged. One of the utilizations was used by the gentry, and was intensely affected by Arabic and Farsi, whereas the other utilization was used by the proletariat and preserved the relics of the nomadic culture.

The gap between the utilizations increased regularly over time, as an outcome of the cultural interaction in the region. The shadow-play, Hacıvat  ve Karagöz is an embodied instance of this divergence. In this play, the disconnect between the mentioned parties is the source of humor. Hacıvat is a member of the gentry, and speaks Ottoman Turkish (The Turkish heavily influenced by Arabic and Farsi), whereas Karagöz is from the proletariat. During the play, and Karagöz becomes befuddled and gets the wrong end of the stick by mistaking an Ottoman word, with a Turkish one which, of course, has a totally opposite meaning.

Toward the 19^th century, with the Servetifünun Movement the gap reached an unimaginative level. Namık Kemal, a Turkish intellectual of the century, wrote, “Even of literates in Istanbul, perhaps one in 10 is incapable of understanding a normally phrased note.” So, simply the language was over the heads of the people.

This problem had to be solved, and so towards the 20th century, different cultural movements emerged to unify Turkish. I will be explaining these cultural movements and the Turkish Language Revolution in my subsequent blogs.

I suggest that you read the links below. They are complementary to my writings..

http://www.turkishculture.org/literature-124.htm

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-202858-was-the-turkish-language-reform-a-success-or-a-catastrophe.html

Do not hesitate to ask me questions, by writing comments below

For chapter 2, click here.