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Content Summary
In this article, we will talk about the relationship between language and thought. We will explain how this affects culture. “How Many Languages Are There In Turkey?” We will try to answer the question.
Language is not only a communication tool but also a system of thinking. According to Humboldt, human thinks with concepts and concepts enter our memory with words. Therefore, the larger our word existence, the larger our conceptual memory and the more in-depth and versatile thinking skill we will acquire. Indeed, we find that we cannot conceive something without words.
The relationship between language and thought is not limited to words. Every language in the world consists of subject, verb, and object, more or less similarly. Only the locations of these items change in different languages. For example, there is a sequence in the form of subject – verb – object in English, as in the I play football sentence, whereas in Turkish there is a sequence in the form of subject – object – verb as in the phrase ben futbol oynarım.
This can even give you clues about whether native speakers care about actions or objects in their culture. The existence of different tenses in each language is one of the examples that can be given to these differences.
Language and culture are concepts inherent in each other. Language affects culture. Culture also affects language. Looking at idioms or proverbs in a language can give you a lot of ideas about that culture. For example, there are more kinship words and color names in Turkish than in any other language. This shows that we attach importance to spring and kinship relations, so we keep the concept areas of season and kinship wide. Each language expresses a different culture and thought system. That’s why we don’t want languages with few speakers to disappear. Because every language is a means of looking at the world with a new thinking system.
There are many languages in the territory of Turkey.
How Many Languages Are There In Turkey
In Turkey, of course, English, German, French, and Spanish is taught languages are spoken as well. However, there are many languages in Turkey? In terms of native speakers of the language question by the Ethnologue, one of the largest databases in the world record in the territory of the Republic of Turkey is a value format in 10 languages are spoken.
These:
1) Turkish
2) Gagauz
3) Circassian
4) Domari
5) Syriac
6) Zazaki
7) Laz
8) Turoyo
9) Hertevin
10) Kurdish.
Let’s explain briefly.
1) Turkısh
According to Ethnologue, which is known as one of the largest language databases, Turkish is the 14th mother tongue spoken in the world with nearly 85 million speakers, according to the number of native speakers. According to the “Great Turkish Dictionary” issued by TDK, there are nearly 620 thousand Turkish words including proverbs, phrases, terms, places and names of people.
2) Gagavuzca
The Gagauz, whose origins you will find detailed explanations here, actually refer to the Christian Turkish communities living in the Balkans. This language, which is very similar to the dialect of Rumelia in our country, is in the category of languages endangered by UNESCO and has speakers in Thrace.
How Many Languages Are There In Turkey? (A picture representing the speeches of the Gagauz.)
3) Circassian
The one in our country is called Adyghe or Western Circassian. It is spoken by Circassians who were exiled to Ottoman lands years ago. Although they used Arabic and Latin letters in the past, the alphabet of this language is today Cyrillic.
4) Domari
Being one of the Roman peoples, the Dom are a community of Indian origin and represent an active group within Rome. They speak the language known today as Middle Eastern Gypsy or Domari. However, the young generation has almost completely moved away from Domari with the influence of other cultures. Only 20% of Dom use Domari language in their daily communication.
5) Syriac
Syriacs are a community that spread from Mesopotamia to the world and later converted to Christianity. There are 3.5 million over 25 thousand Assyrians in the world and is also located in Turkey. Syriac is spoken effectively in and around Urfa, where it is concentrated.
6) Zazaki
Zazas are one of Iranian peoples. After 1980 coup a large part of the zazas migrated to Europe. About 4 million Zaza’s a million of them live in Turkey. Some of the Zazas, who have Islamic belief, are Sunni and some are Alevis. Zaza, on the other hand, displays an advanced language appearance that also has ancient features belonging to Iranian languages.
7) Laz
Laz is a majority ethnic groups living in the territory of Georgia and Turkey, including in the eastern Black Sea. The language they speak is Laz. UNESCO counts Laz language among the languages that are in danger of extinction. The Laz alphabet, on the other hand, has a history of only 80-90 years, according to the sources.
8) Turoyo
Turkey is considered among the Syriac dialect of contemporary western languages spoken as a mother tongue.
9) Hervetin
This language, which has only about 1000 speakers, has been declared as “extremely endangered” by UNESCO. It is stated that the number of people who can speak this language, which is one of the Aramaic languages, completely and competently, does not exceed the fingers of one hand.
10) Kurdish
Kurdish; Turkey, Iraq, spoken in regions such as Iran and Syria. Kirmanji speaking Kurdish in Turkey from the arm. Kurdish languages are written in Latin, Cyrillic or Arabic letters, depending on their arms and locations.
Result
“No language is trivial.” Every language that disappears reflects a human experience that is torn from our memory. Each language provides a new perspective on the world. The disappearance of languages means to become poor intellectually and to become uniform.
Languages
I hope we could answer “How Many Languages Are There In Turkey?” question. I hope we drew attention to Turkey’s cultural richness. I hope we have been able to raise awareness of why we should claim the abstract heritage of humanity.
References
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wilhelm-humboldt/
https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/how-many-languages
https://www.ethnologue.com/country/TR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers