Languages of Turkey

Were on the territory of modern Turkey and a total of about fifty languages from six different language families and isolated language ( Hattish ) are spoken in the past and present. Around half of these languages is now extinct, but passed down through inscriptions or historical texts. Today there are in Turkey over twenty languages and ethnicities together with about 75 million speakers. This shows that both the present-day Turkish state and the territory of Turkey in all phases of the history of a large ethnic and linguistic diversity was characterized and is.

More recent are immigration of smaller groups of refugees from Central Asia or the Caucasus, the Turkic or Caucasian languages are spoken. These languages and the languages of foreigners colonies (for example German, French, English ) are usually not " Languages of Turkey" added to the because this term the languages of the long-term resident ethnic groups are recognized.

2.1 The language families
2.2 Hattish
Hurrian and Urartian 2.3
2.4 Indo-European languages of Turkey
2.5 Afro-Asiatic languages in Turkey
2.6 Kartwelische languages in Turkey
2.7 North Caucasian Languages in Turkey
2.8 Turkic languages in Turkey

4.1 General
4.2 nationalities Turkey
4.3 Languages of the Ancient Near East
4.4 Indo-European languages
4.5 Afro-Asiatic languages
4.6 Caucasian Languages
4.7 Turksprachen

Survey

The large living languages

The national and official language of Turkey 's Turkic Turkish in Turkey more than 80 % of the population as a first language and a further 10 % - 15 % is spoken as a second language. Thus, the Turkish is by far the most important language in today's Turkey.

In addition, there are about 25 languages from five different language families, which are spoken today by non-Turkish long-term resident in Turkey ethnicities and minorities. In this sense, Turkey is a multi-ethnic state. The most important of these languages ( by number of native speakers)

Kurmanji or Nordkurdisch with about 10 million speakers ( Indo-European language of the Iranian branch )
Zazaki with 1.2 to 2 million speakers ( Indo-European language of the Iranian branch )
Arabic ( Syro - Mesopotamian Arabic) with about 1 million speakers ( Afro-Asiatic language of the Semitic branch )
Azerbaijani with 550,000 speakers in Turkey ( Turkic Oghuz branch of )
Kabardian or East Circassian with 550,000 speakers in Turkey ( Northwest Caucasian language )
Bulgarian or Pomakisch with 300,000 speakers ( Indo-European language of the Slavic branch )
Adyghe or West Circassian with 300,000 speakers ( Northwest Caucasian language )

Loss of the Armenian, Greek, and Aramaic

By 1915 there were in Turkey nearly two million Armenians with the mother tongue Armenian. Their number has fallen by the genocide of 1915-17 and the subsequent expulsions to about 40,000. Greek was still spoken in 1900 of 1.5 million speakers in Turkey, of which are still 4,000 speakers in Istanbul remained. Of the once popular Aramaic languages - the varieties of Aramaic Christians - is only the small Hertevin language represented (1,000 speakers) in Turkey today except the Turoyo ( 3,000 speakers). The earlier Aramaic language forms Nestorian Neuaramäisch ( " Assyrian " ), Chaldean Neuaramäisch ( Kaldoyo ) and Jewish- Neuaramäisch ( Lishana Deni ) are no longer spoken in Turkey. Since the 6th of October 1997 there has been in Turkey an official ban on teaching Aramaic.

Other minority languages

Other minority languages are Indo-European languages Albanian ( 15 000 speakers in Turkey), Romani ( 25,000 ) and Domari ( 30,000 ). To Kartvelian group of Caucasian languages in Turkey include Georgian ( 40,000 speakers) and Laz ( 30,000 ). Besides the already mentioned languages Kabardian and Adyghe the West Caucasian languages Abkhazian ( 5000 ) and Abasinisch (10,000 ) are spoken in Turkey.

Languages of refugee groups

Due to current refugee movements there on the above languages also now smaller groups of speakers of Turkic Turkmen, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Uighur; also several hundred speakers of Caucasian languages Lakish, Lezgian and Dargin. The Chechens form with 1,000 people, the largest contingent of refugees from the Caucasus. Since this is a refugee groups, these languages are not " Languages of Turkey" generally counted among the.

Historic languages on the territory of Turkey

On the territory of modern Turkey many important languages were spoken in the course of nearly four thousand years of history, which are now extinct. The most important include Hattish, Hittite, Luwian, Lycian, Lydian, Phrygian, Akkadian (in the form of the Assyrian ), Urartian, Greek, Byzantine, Altarmenisch, Latin and classical Syriac, the language of religion Aramaic Christians.

Genetic classification

The language families

The current and historical languages of Turkey can be divided into six language families and group an isolated language:

Hattish ( language isolate )
Hurrian and Urartian
Indo-European languages
Afro-Asiatic languages
Kartwelische languages
Northwest Caucasian Languages
Turkic languages

After the number of speakers of the Turkic languages - mainly represented by the Turkish - now by far the most important. Hattish, Urartian and Hurrian, many Indo-European languages and most of the Afro-Asiatic languages are now extinct. Nevertheless, Turkey has a considerable linguistic and ethnic diversity even today.

Hattish

The Hattic (of the Hittites hattili called ) was the language of the indigenous people of Anatolia, the Hatti, who found that in the early 2nd millennium BC, newly immigrated Hittites in Anatolia. It is the oldest documented by texts language of Anatolia, however, has remained so little that a comprehensive grammatical description is not possible. Even the vocabulary obtained is not very extensive. This language was not written down by the Hatti itself, but by the Hittites, from the Indo-European language, the Hattic completely different in structure and vocabulary. The distribution area of the Hatti included from the intrusion of Indo-European Hittites, Palaer and Luwians throughout central and northern Anatolia to the Black Sea coast and parts of Cappadocia. Hattish extinct around 1500 BC as a spoken language, but had a cult language in Hittite empire is still very important.

The Hattic not only points to the Hittite no family relationship on, but also to any of the other known languages in Altanatolien and in the neighboring areas. According to current knowledge, the Hattic must be considered as a separate language. Attempts to set it to the West Caucasian languages in relationship, have not been pursued further.

Hurrian and Urartian

Hurrian and Urartian are extinct Near Eastern languages , which are indeed together, but now known to be related to any other language. Hurrian is the language of the Mitanni kingdom the Hurrians in the 12th century BC, which extended in northern Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey, and thus about the same extent as today's Kurdish region had (which is not an indication of a linguistic relationship ). The Urartian Empire ( 9th to 6th century BC) had its center at the eastern Turkish Van Lake and extended over the whole of eastern Turkey and Armenia today. During the first millennium BC the Indo-European Armenians immigrated to the territories of the Urartian kingdom. Hurrian and Urartian written with derived from the Mesopotamian cuneiform writing forms.

Hurro - Urartian Hurrian †
Urartian †

The younger Urartian does not come from directly from Hurrian, but both go back to a joint even older predecessor unknown language. Perhaps there is also a relationship to the Northeast Caucasian languages , as has been suggested by some researchers.

Indo-European languages of Turkey

Almost all branches of Indo-European were or are represented on the territory of present-day Turkey, with the exception of only - apart from foreigners colonies - Germanic and Baltic. One of the oldest verifiable languages in Anatolia is - next to the Hatti and Akkadian - the Indo-European Hittite, the language of Hittite empire from the second millennium BC with the capital Hattusa. So closely related are the Luwian languages, but also the Lydian and Lycian. These languages form with other Anatolian branch of the Indo-European. Other extinct Indo-European languages on the territory of Turkey and the Phrygian are very poorly documented Thracian ( in European Turkey ).

In the phase of the Achaemenid empire ( 550-330 BC) included large parts of Anatolia to the Persian Empire. Old Persian was then next to the Aramaic language of administration in Anatolia. The extent to which the population has accepted this language is not known.

In the East, Armenian was prevalent since the middle of the first millennium BC, first by the genocide of the Armenians in 1915-17 were reduced to a few thousand people. An West and the Black Sea coast Greek was spoken since the 8th century BC; since Hellenistic times it had prevailed in most parts of Anatolia as a language in general use. Its present form, it essentially reached in the 8th century AD. Between the 11th and 14th century Greek was replaced as most widely spoken language by Turkish. Even after that, however, remained Greek vernacular larger parts of the population. In 1900 lived about 1.5 million Greek speakers in Turkey, in 1922 they were almost completely expelled.

In the phase of its greatest expansion, the Celts settled the birth of Christ in Central Anatolia, where they were called Galatians, saying the Galatian language. With the rise of the Roman Empire and its expansion to Anatolia and in the Orient Latin became the official forecasting language on the territory of Turkey. Jewish refugees brought after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the Romanesque Ladino, which is still spoken of 8,000 Jews, especially in Istanbul.

Albanian is mainly represented in some regions of Turkey in Europe, as well as some Slavic languages, especially Bulgarian and Bosnian, remnants of populations that migrated through the Balkans in the Ottoman Empire.

The largest ethnic and linguistic group after the Turks represent the Kurdish Kurmanji ( Nordkurdisch ) is spoken as a first language by around 10 million Kurds in Turkey. This belongs - as well as the independent Zazaki - the Iranian languages , more precisely to the northwest group of Iranian. The so-called Gypsy Romani languages and Domari belonging to the subgroup of the Indo-Aryan, are widespread in Turkey.

This results in the following classification of Indo-European languages on the territory of Turkey:

Indo-Europeans in Turkey Anatolian Hittite †
Palaisch †, † Lydian, Luwian † ( Cuneiform Luwian, Hieroglyphic Luwian )
Lycian † ( Lycian A, Lycian B = Milyisch ) Karisch †, † Pisidisch, Side table † (weakly occupied, assignment uncertain)

Iranian Westiranisch Nordwestiranisch: Kurmanji (10 million), Zazaki ( 1.2 to 2 m) ( Dimli and Kirmanjiki )
Südwestiranisch: † Old Persian, Persian (100,000)

The numbers of speakers relate to the speaker in Turkey.

Afro-Asiatic languages in Turkey

From the great Afro-Asiatic language family that includes the Semitic, Cushitic, and Berber languages omotischen and the old Egyptian ( the Coptic ) - only Semitic languages are represented in Turkey. As first documented language in general is Akkadian in the form of the Assyrian already in the early 2nd millennium BC lingua franca in the Assyrian trading bases in Central and Eastern Anatolia.

Then the lingua franca of the entire Near East - - Since the middle of the first millennium BC, the Aramaic spread also in the southeast of Turkey today. Aramaic is still in the form of classical Syriac as a liturgical language of Aramaic Christians and in some neuaramäischen varieties represented ( Turoyo, Hertevin ). Extinct in Turkey on the other hand are the languages of the Nestorian neuostaramäischen ( " Assyrian " ) and Chaldean Christians ( Kaldoyo ), and the Judeo- neuaramäische Lishana Deni.

The numerically by far the most important Semitic language is Arabic, with the spread of Islam in Southeast Turkey gained a foothold in the Syro- Mesopotamian its variant, where it is now spoken by about one million people. The Semitic languages in Turkey are classified as follows:

Afro-Asiatic in Turkey Semitic North Semitic Akkadian ( Assyrian dialect ) †

Aramaic Old and klass Aramaic Reichsaramäisch †
Classical Syriac ( " Syriakisch " ) † ( church language of Aramaic Christians )

Neuostaramäisch Northwest: Turoyo ( 3,000 speakers in Turkey, a total of 50,000 )
Northeast Hertevin (1,000)
Nestorian Neuaramäisch ( " Assyrian ", Aisor ) ( in Turkey †, otherwise 100,000 )
Chaldean Neuaramäisch ( Kaldoyo ) ( in Turkey †, otherwise 150,000 )
Jewish- Neuaramäisch ( Lishana Deni ) ( in Turkey †, Israel still 8,000 )

Classical Arabic ( language of the Qur'an ) †
Arabic (about 1 to 1.5 million in Turkey, varieties: Syro- Mesopotamian and nordlevantinisches Arabic)

Kartwelische languages in Turkey

By far the most important South Caucasus or kartwelische language is Georgian, which today has about four million speakers and is the national and official language of the neighboring state of Georgia. Already in ancient times, but then in the early Middle Ages there were Georgian principalities and small states in today's northeastern Turkey. Still about 40,000 citizens of Turkey speak today Georgian. That the Georgian closely related Laz is spoken in the areas adjacent to Georgia Black Sea coastal areas and in the neighboring mountain country of about 30,000 people, the majority of hydrolases now lives in Turkey. You use for the Lasische the Turkish variant of the Latin alphabet.

Kartwelisch ( Südkaukasisch ) in Turkey Georgian Sanisch Georgian ( 40,000 in Turkey, 4 million )
Laz ( 30,000 in Turkey, a total of 35-40000 )

For Kartvelian also include still Swanisch and Mingrelian, both of which are spoken only in Georgia.

North Caucasian Languages in Turkey

In the days of the Ottoman Empire, several groups have moved into the territory of modern Turkey, speak the Northwest Caucasian languages. The most important group are the Circassians, which one divides language in osttscherkessisch ( Kabardian ) and westtscherkessisch ( Adyghe ). A third language of this group is now extinct: 1992 died the last speaker of the Ubychischen in Turkey. Also for the Northwest Caucasian include Abkhazian and Abasinisch spoken by small ethnic groups in Turkey. It arises for the Northwest Caucasian languages following classification:

Nordwestkaukasisch in Turkey Adyghe Kabardian ( Osttscherkessisch ) ( 550,000 speakers in Turkey, a total of 1 million)
Adyghe ( Westtscherkessisch ) ( 275,000 in Turkey, a total of 500,000 )
Ubychisch †

Abkhazian ( 4,000 in Turkey, a total of 100,000 )
Abasinisch ( Abasa ) (10,000 in Turkey, a total of 50,000 )

More recent are immigration of smaller groups of refugees from the north-eastern Caucasus who speak the Northeast Caucasian languages Chechen, Ingush, Lachish, Dargin, Avar and Lezgian. These languages - they are not genetically related by today's majority opinion with the North West Caucasian - are usually not " Languages of Turkey" added because of the refugee status of its speakers to, since in this case primarily the resident ethnic groups are recognized.

Turkic languages in Turkey

The Turkish settlement of Anatolia began with the invasion of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century AD The original homeland of the Turks was in Central Asia. The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine army and its allies at the Battle of Manzikert devastating ( north of Lake Van ) in 1071. 1077 the sultanate was founded in rum, then the Turks conquered large areas of eastern and central Anatolia. After the Mongols caused by the disintegration of the Rum Sultanate founded Osman I (* 1259, † 1326) in 1300 was named after him Ottoman Empire and the dynasty of the Ottomans. After the capture of Constantinople Opel in 1453, the Ottomans extended their rule over large parts of the Middle East, North Africa, the Crimea, the Caucasus and the Balkans.

Thus, the Turkish language had begun its triumphal march in Anatolia and in other parts of the Ottoman Empire and greatly reduced the previous languages , a process that continues today. Turkish is now the national, official, cultural and media language of Turkey and is used by 85 % of the population ( about 60 million) spoken as a native language, a further 10% they have mastered as a second language. As the Turkish includes the Gagauz in European Turkey (only few speakers ) and the Azerbaijan in Eastern Anatolia to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages . ( Some Turkish studies identify "Balkan - Turkish " with " Gagauz ", which leads to significantly higher numbers of speakers for the Gagauz, for Turkey about 300,000, see Ethnologue. ) The Crimean Tatar Kipchak in some villages in the district of Polatlı Ankara Province speaking, the number of speakers is unknown, as is the spread in some villages Kumykischen.

Turkic languages in Turkey Oghusisch Turkish ( 60 million native speakers in Turkey, another 7-10 million as a second language, national language )
Azerbaijani ( 550,000 in Turkey, a total of 30 million in Azerbaijan and Iran)
Gagauz (a few speakers in Turkey, 200,000 in Moldova and the Balkans )

Crimean Tatar (some villages, number of speakers in Turkey unknown)
Kumyk (some villages, number of speakers in Turkey unknown)

Smaller Turkic groups of refugees from Central Asia have settled in recent years in Turkey, they rarely exceed the number of a thousand persons. Their languages are generally not counted because of their refugee status as " languages of Turkey". Among the languages of these refugees are Turkmen, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Uighur.

Swell

All information has been taken from the literature below. Fundamental to the question of which languages are spoken today in Turkey, is Ethnologue 2005, in the two sections countries Turkey (Asia ) (p. 518-520 ) and Turkey (Europe) (pp. 563-564 ). Ethnologue 2005 has been used for most numbers of speakers, if their occupation was more recent ( after about 1998), or even current yearbooks (eg Fischer World Almanac 2008).

The evidence for the ancient languages on Turkish territory today are mainly found in the detailed illustrations at yield in 2005 and Woodard 2004. Classification of individual language families ( Indo-European, Semitic, Caucasian languages , Turkic languages ) based on the specified tray works. The comprehensive link to the speech and language family products an occupied with other sources complete overview of all languages and language groups in Turkey is possible.

742521