The Languages of Kurds in Turkey: the Need to Reconsider the Expression “Kurdish language”
Scalbert-Yücel, Clémence
The Languages of Kurds in Turkey: the Need to Reconsider the Expression “Kurdish language” - 2006.
48
The aim of this paper is to examine, by fieldwork in Turkey, the notion of âthe Kurdish language'. This expression does not refer to a single object but to different varieties. Until very recently, Turkey denied the existence of an autonomous Kurdish language and Turkified it. Western classifications mention a family of Kurdish languages. But Kurds also speak related languages which do not belong to the Kurdish family. Also, linguistic and social definitions of the Kurdish language do not always coincide. This diversity of language varieties is reinforced by processes of standardization. The latter are not centralized, linguistic unification has failed and different Kurdish standards have emerged. As the national community is often associated with the idea of a common and unique language, Kurdish activists propound new policies and discourses aiming to reunite those languages. Lastly, the idiom of the Kurds is also unified through the adoption of the dominant language, Turkish.
The Languages of Kurds in Turkey: the Need to Reconsider the Expression “Kurdish language” - 2006.
48
The aim of this paper is to examine, by fieldwork in Turkey, the notion of âthe Kurdish language'. This expression does not refer to a single object but to different varieties. Until very recently, Turkey denied the existence of an autonomous Kurdish language and Turkified it. Western classifications mention a family of Kurdish languages. But Kurds also speak related languages which do not belong to the Kurdish family. Also, linguistic and social definitions of the Kurdish language do not always coincide. This diversity of language varieties is reinforced by processes of standardization. The latter are not centralized, linguistic unification has failed and different Kurdish standards have emerged. As the national community is often associated with the idea of a common and unique language, Kurdish activists propound new policies and discourses aiming to reunite those languages. Lastly, the idiom of the Kurds is also unified through the adoption of the dominant language, Turkish.
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