Ive been hankering to read this book since it was first mentioned in a comment thread, perhaps by christopher culver here. See oxford professor geoffrey lewis the turkish language reform. The turkish language reform ottoman empire arabic free 30. Ottoman turkish was an arcane written language understandable only to a.
The turkish language reform free ebook download as pdf file. Simplification regularizes vocabulary, grammar, or spelling. Sometimes changes are done to make the language purer. Also see professor lewis 2002 lecture on the topic. Turkish iton wikiquote mayda tinirok nga mga puplonganon, darahonon o ginyakan nga nahanunungod hankan. What impact, if any, has the official language reform movement had on it. My subject this evening is the turkish language reform. For a thorough discussion see geoffrey lewis, the turkish language reform. 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.
Editors note lewis victor thomas was born in chicago, february 27, 1914, and died. 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. A catastrophic success see this post, i thought id share some bits that i found interesting, enlightening, or amusing. Turkish is a very challenging language for a native speaker of english or other indoeuropean languages. The numerous examples of words, sentences, and longer passages from primary ottoman and turkish sources, provide students of turkish with stimulating reading material. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the turkish language reform. This revised edition of lewiss turkish grammar reflects the results of the language reform movement which has made anything written before the early thirties less and less intelligible to subsequent generations. It is based on the authors knowledge, experience and continuing study of the language, history, and people of turkey. Having read the first couple of chapters of the turkish language reform. Pdf geoffrey lewis the turkish language reform a catastrophic. I want this post to be shorter than usual, since im mostly just interested in presenting two images i find fascinating. Geoffrey lewis both acquaints the general reader with the often bizarre, sometimes tragicomic, but never dull story of the reform, and provides a stimulating and incisive account for students of turkish language, history, and culture.
Geoffrey lewis lewis cmg fba 19 june 1920 12 february 2008 was an english professor of the turkish language at the university of oxford. My attempt in these pages is to put together a heavily compressed summary of his textbook. Language reform simple english wikipedia, the free. Pdf geoffrey lewis, the turkish language reform, a. As the sovereign is a personage going in front of the society, in. Geoffrey lewis, fba 1979, has been emeritus professor of turkish at the university of oxford since 1986 and a fellow of st anthonys college since 1961 now emeritus he was oxford university visiting professor at robert college, istanbul 195968, and has been a visiting professor at princeton and ucla. Geoffrey lewis the turkish language reform a catastrophic success.
A catastrophic success for a detailed description of the turkish language reform from 1932 through 2002. Emeritus professor of turkish emeritus fellow of st anthonys college and honorary fellow of st johns college geoffrey lewis. The reform of the language from the 1920s onward, which not only replaced the ottoman alphabet with a new latinbased. The reader is provided with rich and wellselected examples, and the translation from turkish to english is excellent. The turkish language reform hardcover geoffrey lewis. 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 a part of the language 2 and substituting turkish grammatical features and words for. Turkish grammar geoffrey lewis 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. Since its appearance in 1967, professor lewiss turkish grammar has been the standard work on the language throughout the englishspeaking world. The fascinating story of turkish language reform is told in an engaging and authoritative manner. Geoffrey lewis is emeritus professor of turkish at university of oxford.
For a list of words relating to tinurkiya, see the tinurkiya category of words in wiktionary, the free dictionary. Ottoman turkish was an arcane written language understandable only to a tiny elite, filled with arabic and persian constructions. In response, lewis produced in 1999 a witty study of the changes, entitled turkish language reform. The turkish language reform quotes by geoffrey lewis. A catastrophic success oxford linguistics kindle edition by lewis, geoffrey. Turkish grammar by geoffrey lewis 9780198700364 get. The theory proposed that because this primal language had close phonemic resemblances to turkish, all other languages can essentially be traced. 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. It gives very clear explanations about most of the points of turkish grammar without being too theoritical.
Turkish language reform volume 26 issue 2 frank tachau. He was well known as the author of teach yourself turkish and academic books about turkish and turkey. The controversy is by no means over, but ottoman turkish is dead. The typical methods of language reform are simplification and linguistic purism. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The book is important both for the study of linguistic change and for the light it throws. Language reform is a kind of language planning by widespread change to a language. The mixture of turkish, arabic, and persian, which turks call osmanl. A list of turkish suffixes is still in the series of pages. The authors experience of turkey and his competence in turkish are clear throughout. Reviewed by ali eminov, wayne state college language reform in turkey was a deliberate campaign to purify turkish by eliminating the. This article has been published at the request of one of our readers. The turkish language reform hardcover geoffrey lewis oxford university press.
The turkish language reform basics of turkish grammar. Search for library items search for lists search for contacts search for a library. This is the first account of the transformation of the turkish language in the years following 1930probably. Geoffrey lewiss book traces the history of turkish language reform with fascinating style. They advocated a language that would be easier to read and write and contain more purely turkish words. It gives also some insights about the evolution of. This revised and fully updated new edition further reflects the results of the language reform movement which, though not so drastic in its effect on the spoken language, has. This is the first full account of the transformation of ottoman turkish into modern turkish. It was translated into turkish and enthusiastically received by. 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 book is important both for the study of linguistic change and for the light it throws on twentiethcentury turkish politics and society. Lewis v thomas elementary turkish revised and edited by norman itzkowitz. The principle of turkish language reform thus was tied intimately to the reforms of the 183978 period see external threats and internal transformations, ch. Geoffrey lewis focuses almost entirely on how patriotic, but often blindly nationalistic or ideologically driven intellectuals have made modern written turkish a bit of a mishmash.
These changes are usually done to make a language simpler to understand or to write. In order to give some indication of the significance of this change it will be necessary to say something about the ottoman form of turkish, the precursor of the modern language. A catastrophic success by lewis, geoffrey and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Geoffrey lewis gunnar jarring lecture in sweden in february 2002. Pdf on oct 1, 2002, ismail aydingun and others published geoffrey lewis, the turkish language reform, a catastrophic success. Furthermore, the book is significant in that it sheds light on the fact that, although language reform is not a wellknown aspect of the kemalist revolution, it played a vital role in the creation of the turkish national identity. They are both related to the turkish language reform. 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. Your total satisfaction is guaranteed with every single order. Geoffrey lewis the turkish language reform a catastrophic. A catastrophic success oxford linguistics 9780199256693. A catastrophic success is a presentation of the wild transformation of standard turkish over the course of the 20th century.
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