Welcome

This is the final project for Dylan Skirvin. I hope you enjoy the blog. To fully navigate the site, look to the right and there is a list of all the posts. (Check out that video at the end!) If something is missing, you might not be exploring the full blog, as it's all in here! If you have any questions please email me and I can point you in the right direction as to where it might be!
hoodedsweatshirts@gmail.com

The Turkish Language!

The Turkish language belongs to the Altaic language family and currently has anywhere from 65-73 million speakers. Turkish is mainly used in Turkey, but also in Greece and Eastern Europe among other places. The Turkish language is thriving and still changing. The Turkish Language Association is reforming that language and removing the Persian and Arabic loanwords, and putting words with Turkic roots in their place.

The place

Specifically, Turkey has a deep history. The geography that makes up modern Turkey is one of the world’s oldest inhabited regions. The turkish music scene is a mix of the world due to contact with Asia, the Islamic world and European countries. Turkish literature’s heavy player is Orhan Pamuk “who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures."

Let's Count!

0 sifir
1 bir
2 iki
3 üç
4 dört
5 bes
6 alti
7 yedi
8 sekiz
9 dokuz
10 on

The Alphabet!

The Turkish alphabet.

The characteristics of the Turkish language!

This agglutinative language has the word order SOV. Stress is generally on the last syllable. In the Turksih language there are 6 noun cases: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Acusative, Ablative, and Locative. In this language tense, mood and aspect are all shown in their verbs. Something interesting I found was that they compound words to make a new one. As an example, gökdelen, which in English is skyscraper. This word was made by combining gök ("sky") and del- ("to pierce"). The literal translation is sky piercer. This compounding of words is something that the German language does as well. There is no gender in this language.

The many affixes!

The Turkish language uses a lot of affixes. Here are the suffixes for nouns and verbs.

NOUN SUFFIXES

Plural: -lar, -ler
Bankalar, banks
Oteller, hotels

To, Toward: -a, -e (or -ya, -ye)
Bankaya, to the bank
Otele, to the hotel

From: -dan, -den
Bankadan, from the bank
Otelden, from the hotel

Possessive: -ın, -in, -nın, or -nin
Bankanın, the bank's
Otelin, the hotel's

With: -lı, -li, -lu, -lü
Et, meat; etli, with meat
Süt, milk; sütlü, with milk

Without: -sız,-siz,-suz, -süz
Et, meat; etsiz, without meat, meatless
Süt, milk; sütsüz, without milk


VERB SUFFIXES

Infinitive: -mak, -mek
Almak, to take or buy
Gitmek, to go

Simple present: -ar, -er, -ır, -ir, -ur, -ür
Alır, he/she/it takes or buys
Gider, he/she/it goes

Simple past: -dı, -di, -du, -dü
Aldı, he/she/it took, bought
Gitti, he/she/it went

Future: -acak, -ecek, -acağ-, -eceğ-
Alacak, he/she/it will take, buy
Gidecek, he/she/it will go

Continuous: -ıyor-, -iyor- (like English '-ing')
Alıyor, he/she/it is taking, buying
Gidiyor, he/she/it is going

Question: -mı, -mi, -mu, -mü
Alıyor mu? Is he/she/it taking (it)?
Gidecek mi? Will he/she/it go?

First Person Singular (I):-ım, -im, -um, -üm
Alırım, I take

Second Person Singular (you-informal): -sın, -sin, -sun, -sün
Alırsın, You take

Third Person Singular (he/she/it): (no suffix)
Alır, he/she/it takes

First Person Plural (we): -ız, -iz, -uz,-üz
Alırız, we take

Second Person Plural (you-formal): -sınız, -siniz, -sunuz,-sünüz
Alırsınız, You (plural) take; or You (singular-formal) take

Third Person Plural (they): -lar, -ler
Alırlar, They take.

Turkish greetings!

Merhaba = Hello[response is the same word]
Günaydın = Good day
Nasılsınız? = How are you?
İyiyim = I am well
***The next two are rather interesting***
Güle güle = Good-bye.[said to person leaving]
Allahaısmarladık = bye.[said by person leaving]
(see how different they are?)

A Turkish Video!

Here is the Turkish version of the famous Wizard of Oz.

Sources

wikipedia.org (of course)

Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar
Author: Celia Kerslake
various pages used.
Routledge Publishing, 2005. New York

http://www.turizm.net/turkey/info/lesson.html
This site was used to find phrases.

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/LanguageGuide/TurkishGrammar.html
This site gave a comprehensive list of the Turkish affixes.