Avrasya Coğrafyasında Konuşulan Diller › dosyalar › makale › acarindex-1423871454.pdf ·...

Abstract: This informative paper scrutinizes the languages spoken in Euroasian region; namely Turkish language and its dialects. It also gives background information about the historical period of Turkish language, starting from the period of the Association of Altay Languages to Modern Turkish (20th Century and after). At the end of the paper, focusing on the national language problem of the Independent Turkic Republics, some solutions are suggested.

Keywords: Languages, Euroasian languages, Turkish language.

Avrasya Coğrafyasında Konuşulan DillerÖz: Bu bilgilendirici çalışma Avrasya bölgesinde konuşulan dilleri özellikle Türkçe ve

lehçelerini incelemektedir. Aynı zamanda Altay Dil Ailesi’nden Modern Türkçe’ye kadar uzanan süreçte (20. Yüzyıl ve sonrası) Türk dilinin tarihi hakkında bilgiler sunmaktadır. Çalışmanın sonunda Bağımsız Türki Cumhuriyetlerinin ulusal dil problemine odaklana-rak bazı çözüm önerileri verilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Diller, Avrasya Dilleri, Türk Dili

Spoken Languages in Eurasion Geography

*) Instructor,PolatlıVocationalSchoolofHealthSciences,HacettepeUniversity,Turkey. (e-posta:[email protected])

Gülay Sarıçoban (*)

atatürk Üniversitesi Sosyal bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 2012 16 (3): 95-115

96 / Gülay Sarıçobanatatürk Üniversitesi Sosyal bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 2012 16 (3): 95-115

IntroductionLanguageisasystemofeitheroralorwrittensymbolsthatprovidescommunication

amongpeople.Language,oneof thebasicmeansofcommunicationamongpeople, isaninheritancethatnationsgetfromthepast.Throughlanguagepeopleleadeachotherfromthepasttothepresentdayandalsotothefuture.Itisgenerallyacceptedthatpeoplespeakingthesamelanguagehavethesamehistory,sharethesameculture,andhavethesamehabitsandvalues.

“Everylanguageischaracterizedbyvariationwithinthespeechcommunitythatusesit.Thosevarieties,inturn,aremoreorlessdivergentfromoneanother.Thesedivergentvarieties are often referred to as dialects” (http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/introduction.asp#history).Therefore,wecanidentifyadialectasthedifferentformsofthesamelanguagespokenwithinthesamecommunityindifferentareasorhistoricallyspeakingindifferentages.Itisavarietyofacertainlanguage,differinginvocabulary,grammar or accent from others (Vardar, 1988). “Theymay be distinct enough to beconsideredseparatelanguagesorsufficientlysimilartobeconsideredmerelycharacteristicofaparticulargeographicregionorsocialgroupingwithinthespeechcommunity.Oftenspeakersmaybeveryawareofdialectvariationandbeabletolabelaparticulardialectwithaname.Inothercases,thevariationmaybelargelyunnoticedoroverlooked(http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/introduction.asp#history).

Therearethreebasiccriteriafordefiningalanguageinrelationtovarietieswhichmaybeconsidereddialectsstatedinthiswebsite.Theseare:

1. Tworelatedvarietiesarenormallyconsideredvarietiesof thesame language ifspeakers of each variety have inherent understanding of the other variety at afunctionallevel(thatis,canunderstandbasedonknowledgeoftheirownvarietywithoutneedingtolearntheothervariety).

2. Where spoken intelligibility between varieties is marginal, the existence of acommonliteratureorofacommonethnolinguisticidentitywithacentralvarietythatbothunderstandcanbea strong indicator that theyshouldneverthelessbeconsideredvarietiesofthesamelanguage.

3. Wherethereisenoughintelligibilitybetweenvarietiestoenablecommunication,theexistenceofwell-establisheddistinctethnolinguisticidentitiescanbeastrongindicatorthattheyshouldneverthelessbeconsideredtobedifferentlanguages.

Thesecriteriamakeitclearthattheidentificationof“alanguage”isnotsolelywithintherealmoflinguistics.

The paramount common feature of the related communities is that they speak thesamelanguageinorderthat,throughlanguage,continuityofbothlanguageandnationalunityismaintained.However,intheperiodbeforethecollapseoftheUnionofSovietSocialistRepublics,Turkiccommunitiesembodiedinitandbeingmanipulatedthroughdifferentwrittenandorallanguageswereforcedtobedividedfromoneanother.Whatis

97Spoken Languages in Eurasion Geography

more,agreatcarewastakensothatthesecommunitiesuseddifferentlanguagessoasnottoprovideculturalexchangethroughtheircommonlanguages.Forexample,Russia,attheoutset,didnotinterveneinthefirstswitchofAzerbaijantoLatinalphabet;however,Russia’sgreateffortstomakeAzerbaijanreturntoCyrillicalphabetagainafterTurkeyacceptedtheLatinalphabetstemsfromthegoalofRussiatopreventculturalexchangeandcommunicationbetweenthesetwocognatecommunities(Korkmaz,2001).

Turkish Language and its Dialects in Eurasian Geography Theterm”Eurasian”isnotonlyageographicalconceptincludingEastEurope,allthe

WestAsiaandRussia,Turkey,Ukraine,CentralAsianandCaucasuscountries,butalsoaconceptthatexplainshistorical,economicalandculturalinteractionofEurasianpeoplelivingin these largelands(Kireev,2002).AccordingtoKireev, thisconceptexpressesprimarily Russian and Turkey, as well as the interaction between Slavic and Turkicpeople.

Today,TurkishlanguageisspokendispersedlyinanextensiveareafromtheendsoftheBalkansinthewesttothePacificOceanintheeastandfromtheArcticOceaninthenorthtoTibetinthesouth.

Languagesspokenonearth,today,areevaluatedincertainlanguagefamilies(Tuna,2002).According to Tuna, Turkish which has the characteristics of an agglutinativelanguageisevaluatedinAltaicLanguageFamily.Hedefinestheterm“languagefamily”astheoneusedforspeciallanguages.Tohim,alanguagefamilyisagroupoflanguageswithdifferentbranchesfromamainlanguagethroughdevelopmentprocess.Hereportsthatitisacommonbeliefthatthelanguagesinthisgroupcomefromacommonroot.Namely,genetickinshipshouldbeconsideredwhenmentioninga language family. Insuchalanguagefamily,sub-branches,goingbackwards,endupinacommonlanguage,he believes. In this frame, when we examine Altaic language family, in the narrowsense,Turkish,Mongolian,Manchu-Tungusic,inthebroadsense,KoreanandJapaneselanguages are calledAltaic Language Family, he adds.He concludes that, today, thestudiesaboutAltaic Language TheoryareafieldthatisinterestedinAltayistic areaintheworldandtherearelotsofstudiesonthisissue.Iamnotgoingtomentionthespeculationsaboutthistheoryherebecauseitisnotrelevanttoourtopicdirectly.

So long as we accept the theory which states that Turkish, Mongolian, Manchu,Tungusic, Korean and Japanese languages come from a common root, the mainAltaiclanguage,theearliestperiodforTurkishisundoubtedlytheperiodoftheAltaiclanguageunity(Altaic Period)(Özyetkin,2006).Thatis,AltaicPeriodisahypothetical,suppositionalperiodthatTurkish,Mongolian,Manchu,TungusicandKoreanlanguagesconstituteamainlanguage,shereports.Sheindicatesthatunfortunately,thebeginningandendingdateofthisperiodarenotknown.Shestatesthattoday,theknowledgeaboutthisperiodconsistsofthehypotheticalknowledgeandconjecturesthatthecomparativelinguisticstudiesgiveus.


Turkish spoken in awide geographical area, after it was separated from Altaic language unity, was exposed to some historical periods and branching with certaincharacteristics.WemayclassifythehistoricalperiodsofTurkishlanguageingeneralasbelow:

Historical periods of Turkish language1. TheperiodoftheAltaicLanguageUnity,2. TheperiodofFirstTurkish-Chuvash-theperiodofTurkishLanguageUnity

(Pre-Turkic)3. TheperiodofMainTurkish(Proto-Turkish)4. TheperiodofOldTurkish(6.th-10.thCentury)5. TheperiodofMiddleTurkish(11.th-16.thCentury)6. The period of New Turkish (New Written language) (16.th Century and

after),7. TheperiodofModernTurkish(20.thCenturyandafter)(Özyetkin,2006)

AccordingtoÖzyetkin(2006)today,agreatmanyoftheTurkishdialectsareusedinthestatusofstatelanguage,writtenlanguage,literarylanguageetc.IntherepublicsofAzerbaijan,Turkmenistan,Uzbekistan,Kazakhstan,andKyrgyzstan;intherepublicof Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chuvash, Kabardino- Balkaria, Karachaevo- Cherkessia,Dagestan, Tuva, Saha (Yakut),Altay Khakas in Russian federation, Turkish dialectsnamedasthesameoftheserepublicshavethestatedstatusintheserepublics,independentrepublic or land, autonomous republics that were mentioned above. In the People’sRepublicofChina,UighurTurkslivingintheregionofXinjiangUighurAutonomoususetheirownwrittenlanguage.

At this point, today’s modern Turkish language area in terms of geographic andlinguisticbasisshouldbementioned; thereare6groupsbrieflyaccording toÖzyetkin(2006):

1.South-westTurk-OguzTurkishdialects,2.North-westKipchakTurkishdialects,3.South-eastUighur-Karlukdialects,4.North-eastSiberia-Turkishdialects,5.Chuvash6.Halach

Thefollowinginformationgivenfrom2.1. to 2.6.hasbeenthetranslatedversionofÖzyetkin’sstudyin2006forwhichIamthankfultoherprovidinguswithsuchanindepth


research.South –West Turkish Dialects (Oguz) Amongthesedialectsarea.TurkeyTurkishb.Azerbaijanic.Gagauzd.Turcomanande.Khorassan.Weaccept

these five dialects asOguz–groupTurkish dialects. In these dialects,Khorassan doesnothavea written language.TheotherTurkishdialectseachare written languages.Turkish,AzerbaijaniandGagauzthatareveryclosetoeachotherareTurkishlanguages.TurcomanhasaspecialplaceinOguzgroupandislocatedinthefareasternpartoftheOguzgeographyandso,isveryclosetotheEastTurkish.

TheTurksofTurkeyarethelargestgroupintermsofthenumberofspeakersandthedispersivegeographyofthespeakersinOguzgroup.TurkishofTurkeyisbeingspokeninTurkey,therepublicofCyprus,Balkanstates,Greece,Bulgaria,thelandsofFormerYugoslavia,Macedonia andRomania, the states ofwest Europe and the continent ofAustralia.Latinscriptwasadopted inTurkeywith thealphabet revolution in theyearof1928.Turkishwriting language is shapedwith thebasisof Istanbulaccent.TurkeyTurkishhasanareaofagreatdealofsub-dialectsasAnatolianandRumeliadialects.

GagauzTurkishiscomposedofthesmallestbranchofOguzgroup.Today,amajorpartofthespeakersofthisbranchthatremainsinthewesternofOguzlanguageliveinthesouthoftherepublicofMoldovaandinthesouth–westofUkraine.Besides,thereareGagauzcommunitieslivinginBulgariaandDobrogeaandalsoinCaucasus.GagauzpeopleareamongChristianTurks.Theyfoundedanautonomousstatenamed“theplaceofGagauz”on20august1990.TheofficialspeakinglanguagesoftheirstateareGagauzlanguage, Romance andRussian.Whenwe examine theGagauzTurkish in terms oflinguistics,actually,it isanaccentofTurkeyTurkish.In1957,itgotanofficialstatueaswringlanguageinSovietsUnionandwaswrittenwithCyrillicalphabetuntil1996.Today,itisunderintenseinfluenceofSlaviclanguage.Especially,thisSlavicimpressionattractstheattentionsinthemorphologyofGagauzlanguage.

Apart from Gagauz language,Azerbaijan Turkish which is the most close to theTurkishofTurkeyisbeingspokenintherepublicofAzerbaijan,Armenia,GeorgiaandasthemostcrowdedpartinIran.(AccentofTabriz,Kashkay-Eynallu).KirkukTurkishspokeninIraqshouldberegardedasanaccentofAzerbaijanTurkish.Inthesecondperiodof19thC,anewerastartedinAzerbaijanhistorydividedintotwobyRussianoccupationwith Turkmenchay Treaty (1828). While NorthAzerbaijan was getting into Russiansovereignty,SouthAzerbaijanwasinthesovereigntyofIranandsolelyAzerbaijanTurkslived in two different mental, cultural and religious environments. SouthAzerbaijanpeoplewhoadoptedShiatraditionofIslamliveundertheimmenseinfluenceofPersianwhichistheLinguaFrancaoftheregion,andininteractionwithIranculture.

TurcomanTurkishisprimarily,spokenintherepublicofTurkmenistanintensively,IranandAfghanistan.TuruhmenwhichisanaccentofTurcomanTurkishisbeingspoken


inCaucasusandtheplacesfromStavropoltoAstrakhan.Ontheotherhand,TurcomanisthedialectwhichhasprotectedthecharacteristicsofOldOguzTurkishasthebestinOguzgroup.

KhorassanTurkish that takesplace ineasternpartofOguzworld is spoken in theNorthEastofIran,theregionofKhorassan.IthadnotbeenknownalotaboutthatTurkishdialect until recently. It was considered that this dialectwas an accent ofTurcoman.However, ithasbeenrevealed in the importantstudies(1969) in thisfieldbyGermanTurcologistG.DoerferthatKhorassanTurkishhasasequivalentfeaturesasotherdialectsinOguzgroupaswell,.EvenifKhorassanTurkishresemblestoTurcoman,itdiffersintermsofmanyfeatures.

WecanconsiderthegeographywhereOguzdialect isspokenandtheapproximatenumberofspeakersasinthefollowing(ShehastakenthisinformationfromBoeschoten’sstudy“TheSpeakerofTurkicLanguages”,The Turkic Languages,LarsJohanson/EvaCsato,1998.

Inourstudythecurrentnumberofspeakersisoutofourfocus.However,thismaygiveusanidea.

a. The Turkish of TurkeyTurkey (70.000.000)Bulgaria (approximately1.000.000)Cyprus (150.000)Australia (40.000)Macedonia (80.000)Romania (24.000)InthelandsofformerYugoslavia (approximately20.000)Greece (approximately150.000)ThestatesofWestEurope (above2.000.000)b. Azerbaijani Azerbaijan (6.000.000)Armenia (40.000)Georgia (300.000)Iran (13.000.000)Iraq (400.000)c. Gagauz Moldova (150.000)Bulgaria (5.000)Kazakhstan (1.000)


Romania (notknown)RussianFederation(Caucasus) (10.000)Ukraine (32.000)d. TurcomanTurkmenistan (3.000.000)Afghanistan (380.000)Iran (500.000)Iraq (400.000)e. Khorassan languageIran (2.000.000)

North-west Kipchak DialectsThesearea.Tatar,b.Bashkir,c.Kyrgyz,d.Kazakh,e.Karakalpaklanguage,f.Nogay,

g.Karachai-Balkaria,h.Kunyk,i.Karayimlanguageandj.CrimeaTatar.OneofthedialectsspokeninthefarwesternofKipchakgroupisKarayimlanguage.

TheseareJewishTurks.IntermsoforigintheyarelinkedwithCaspianTurkswhoarealsoJewish.ItisspokeninLithuania,WestUkraine,CrimeaandPoland.Today,KarayimTurkishisoneoftheTurkishdialectswhichareonthevergeofthedangeroflanguagedeath,languageloss.ItisoneoftheTurkishdialects,thenumberofwhosespeakersisgettinglessandlessandnearlyforgotten.ItissaidthatKaraypeoplewrotetheirlanguagewithHebrew,LatinandCyrillicalphabetsuntil1930’s.Alotofold,ritual,manuscriptsthatbelongtoKarayimpeoplewerenaturallywritteninHebrew.

a. TatarRussianFederationTatarstan (2.000.000)Bulgaria (11.000)Kazakhstan (340.000)Romania (24.000)RussianFed.Bashkortostan (1.000.000)China (5.000)Turkey (25.000)Finland (1.000)TheUSA (1.000)EuropeanCountries (8.000)Ukraine (86.000)Tajikistan (72.000)Kyrgyzstan (39.000)


Azerbaijan (28.000)b. BashkirRussianFed.Bashkortostan (1.000.000)c. KyrgyzKyrgyzstan (2.400.000)Afghanistan (500) China (140.000)d. KazakhKazakhstan (7.300.000)Afghanistan (2.000)China (1.000.000)Mongolia (100.000)Turkmenistan (80.000)Uzbekistan (900.000)e. Karakalpak LanguageUzbekistan (450.000)Afghanistan (2.000)f. NogayRussianFed.Caucasus (77.000)g. Karachai- BalkariaRussianFed.Caucasus (70.000Karachai) (40.000Balkaria)h. KunykRussianFed.Caucasus (300.000)i. Karayim languageLithuania (50)Poland (20)Ukraine (6)j. Crimea TatarCrimea (200.000)Uzbekistan (300.000)

South-West Uighur-Karluk DialectsTheseare;a. Uzbek


Uzbekistan (16.000.000)Afghanistan (1.400.000)China (15.000)Kazakhstan (350.000)Kyrgyzstan (600.000)Tajikistan (1.000.000)Turkmenistan (350.000)b. Modern UighurChina (8.300.000)Kazakhstan (245.000)Mongolia (1.000)c. Yellow UighurChina (5.000)d. Salar LanguageChina (74.000)

North- East- Siberia Turkish Dialects

Theseare;a. Yakut (Saha) languageRussianFed.Yakutstan (400.000)b. Tuva languageRussianFed.(AltaicregionandSouthSiberia) (200.000)Mongolia (6.000)China (400)c. Hakas languageRussianFed.HakasAutonomousRepublic (58.000) (10.000=Shorlanguage)d. Altaic languageRussianFed. (52.000=OyrotandTeleutlanguages)

ChuvashChuvashisaTurkishdialectwhichcomposesanindependentgrouponitsowninthe

classificationofTurkishlanguage.Aswesaidbefore,thedevelopmentofgeneralTurkishdialectsandChuvashlanguagedevelopedinthecompletelydifferentbranchesfromeach


other.ChuvashisregardedasthecurrentheirofOldBulgarianTurkish.Today,Chuvashpeople are supposed to be in Turkish Idyll-Ural.. They live in Chuvashia, TatarstanandBashkortostanwhichareunderRussianFederation.ChuvashpeopleareOrthodoxChristians.TheyhavebeenincontactwithFinno-UighurpeopleintheseregionswheretheChuvashpeoplelivesinceancienttimes.ThenameofChuvashwasfirstlyencounteredinaRussiandocumentwrittenin16thcentury.Chuvashpeople,whowereMuslimbefore,wereChristianizedthroughmissionaryactivitiesinRussianpeople.

As a result ofmodern language researches developed in the early 20th century ithasbeenproved thatChuvash language isTurkish.Today,Chuvash is ina top-dialectpositionamongTurkishlanguagesanditshouldbeevaluatedinanalternativegroupintheclassificationofthedialect.

Chuvashia (900.000) Tatarstan (135.000) Bashkortostan (119.000)

Halach ThisTurkishdialectspokenintheCentralIranwasdiscoveredbyGermanTurcologist

G.Doerfer in therecenthistory(1968). It isacharacteristicTurkishdialect thathasagreatdealofarchaicfeaturesofOldTurkishandtakesplaceinaprivategroupinmodernTurkishdialectsintermsofthelanguagefeaturesithas.Halachlanguagedoesnothaveawrittenlanguage.

Other Languages Spoken in Eurasian GeographyBalkansTheBalkanPeninsula,duetoitsgeologicalsituation,isthelargestoneofthreemajor

peninsulaofEuropeasahistoricalregiondemonstratingtheunionofahistoryandcultureforages.Thepeninsula,surroundedbytheseasonthreesides;theMediterraneanSeainthesouth,theAegeanSeaandtheTurkishBosphoruswiththeMarmaraSeaandtheBlackSeaintheeast,isageographyofwhichtheeast-westwidthis1300km,thenorth-southlengthis1050kmincluding23.764km-TurkishThraceandhasapproximately800.000km2areaandalmost78millionpeople.

The languages stated in the frame of “the Union of Balkan Languages” are “a.Albanian,b.Greek,c.Roman (Gipsy) language,d.some Latin languages (Rumanian, Vlah language, Megleno- Rumanian and Istria- Rumanian),e.Some Slavic languages (Bulgarian Macedonian and Serbian, especially the Torlakian dialect which is transitional between Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian.All the same, it shouldbe rememberedthattheselanguageshavesimilaritiescomingfromthecommonoriginamongthem.f.Turkish andg.Ladino (the language of Jewish who resided in Balkans by emigrating from Spain in 15th Century until 20th Century)”(http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_dil_birli%C4%9Fi).


However, not all of these languages have the same number of features shared.That is why they are divided into three groups (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_sprachbund):

1. Albanian, Romanian, Macedonian, Aromanian andBulgarian have the mostpropertiesincommon.

2. Serbianlanguage (especiallytransitionalTorlakdialect)andGreek sharewiththeothersalowernumberofproperties.

3. Turkish - shares mainly vocabulary and replacement of infinitive withsubjunctive.

The Finnish linguistJouko Lindstedtcomputed in 2000 a “Balkanization factor”which gives each Balkan language a score proportional with the number of featuresshared in the Balkan linguistic union.The results were (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_sprachbund):

Table 1. BalkanizationElementintheAvailableLanguages

Language ScoreSlaviclanguages 11.5Albanian 10.5GreekandRumanian 9.5Roma(gipsy)language 7.5

InordertoseethegrammaticalfeaturesofBalkanlanguagesintermsofcasesystem(nominative,accusative,dative/genitive,andvocative),vocabulary,andphoneticfeatures,seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_sprachbund.

In this web site we can also witness that “another language that may have beeninfluenced by the Balkan language union is theJudeo-Spanish variant that used tobe spoken bySephardi Jews living in the Balkans. The grammatical features shared(especiallyregardingthetensesystem)weremostlikelyborrowedfromGreek.”

“Since most of these features cannot be found in languages related to those thatbelong to the linguistic union (such as other Slavic or Romance languages), earlyresearchers,includingKopitar,believedtheymusthavebeeninheritedfromthePaleo-Balkanlanguages (Illyrian, Thracian andDacian)whichformedthesubstrate formodernBalkanlanguages.ButsinceverylittleisknownaboutPaleo-Balkanlanguages,itcannotbedeterminedwhether thefeatureswerepresent.ThestrongestcandidateforasharedPaleo-Balkan feature is the postposed article” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_sprachbund).


GreeceOntheotherhand,“GreekappearstobeonlyperipheraltotheBalkanlinguisticunion,

lackingsomeimportantfeatures,suchasthepostposedarticle.Nevertheless,severalofthefeaturesthatGreekdoessharewiththeotherlanguages(lossofdative,replacementofinfinitivebysubjunctiveconstructions,objectclitics,formationoffuturewithauxiliaryverb“towant”)probablyoriginatedinMedievalGreek andspreadtotheotherlanguagesthroughByzantineinfluence”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_sprachbund).

AccordingtothedataofEthnologyDatabase,thosebelowarethelanguagesspokeninGreeceapartfromGreekandtheethnicgroupswhospeaktheselanguagesare(http://www.diplomatikgozlem.com/TR/belge/1-5385/yunanistan-azinlik-raporu--1-.html):

Language Groups in GreeceThe following information has been downloaded from the web site “http://www.

diplomatikgozlem.com/haber_oku.asp?id=1359.”

AlbanianRangingfrom50.000to140.000peoplespeakitinAttic,Viotia,SouthEvia,Salamina

islandandintheruralpartsandvillagesofAthensandEpirregion.Peoplespeakingthislanguagearecalled“Arnevits”.Generally,theelderlypeoplespeakit;theyoungmigratetoAthens and they are subjected to assimilation by Greeks. These people speakingAlbanianinGreeceareChristians.

2. Armenian20.000ArmeniansspeakArmenianinGreeceandtheyareChristians.3. Bulgarian Itisspokenbyabout30.000PomaksinGreece.TheyareMuslims.4. MacedonianItisspokenby180.000(accordingto1986census)Macedonianminoritywhoconstitute

1.8%ofGreecepopulation.Greeksusetheexpression“Slavic”forthislanguage.5. Balkanic RomanianIt is a gypsy language. It is spokenby 40.000Muslimgypsies in total, 30.000of

whomspeakGreekRomanianinGreeceand10.000ofwhomspeakArlijadialect.6. Vlach Romanian TheLovaridialectofthislanguagewhichisalsonamedwiththenamesof“Romanes,

TsinganiandRom”isspokenbyagroupof1.000Christiangypsies inGreece. Theycall themselves “Rom”.While some settledgypsies call themwith a secondname as“Tsingani”,theycallunsettledgypsies“Yifti”.

7. Romany GreekItisagypsylanguagewhichisalsocalled“Helleno-romani”.


8. Romanian of MasedThis languagewhich is also called “Arumence,Aromence andArmina” is spoken

by 50.000 people in Northwest Thessaloniki and North Greece, and around PindusMountainandTrikala.Thechildrenofthisgroup,studyingatGreekschoolsandknownas“Armini,”areassimilatedinGreekcultureinafastway.Peopleattherateof20%goontheirtraditionallives.

9. Romanian of MeglenThislanguagealsocalled“Meglenitik”isspokeninthesouthofThessalonikiwhich

isMeglenregion.10. Croatian of SerbOnepartofthosespeakingthislanguage,whichisalsocalledSerbianisMuslims,one

partisChristian.11. TsaconianThislanguageotherwisecalledas“Kastanitas-Sitena”and“Lenidi-Prastos”isspoken

byagroupofpeoplebetween1.200and10.000incitiessuchasKastanitas,Stena,Prastos,Karakovonve,Pramatefti,Spounakeida,TyrosandintheeastbeachesofPeloponnes.Insummer,thesepeoplegoupthemountainswhichareinthewestofLeonidilocatedintheeastofPeloponnes,andwhenwintercomes,theygodownLeodiniandtheneighborcities.TsakonianemergedfromthedialectofoldSpartanand“Doric”dialectspokeninLokania.Therewas“monolingualism”therein1927.ThislanguagedoesnothavenaturalcomprehensibilitywiththemodernGreek.ChildrenwhocontinueGreekschoolsgotokindergartensinwinters(http://www.diplomatikgozlem.com/haber_oku.asp?id=1359)

Bulgaria Population:7,204,687(2009)Ethnic distribution of population: Bulgarian 83%, Turk 8.5%, Rumen 2.6%,

Macedonian,Armenian,Tatar,Gagauz,Circassian,theothers(1998)Language:Bulgarian

Kosovo Turkswhoconstitute themajorityespecially inPristineandDragaş (acitynear to

GoraregioninthesouthofKosovo)trytokeeptheiridentitylivelybymeansofculturalassociationsandpoliticalparties.

Population:Approximately2,000,000(2010)Ethnic distribution of population:Albanian92%,others8%.Languages:OfficiallanguageisAlbanian,Serbian.(http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosova)

AlbaniaPopulation:3,639,453(July,2009)50%ofthepopulationlocatesintheruralareas.


Ethnic distribution of population:Albanian95%,Greek3%,theothers2%(Rumen,Serb,Bulgarian).

Languages:OfficiallanguageisAlbanian.Besides,Greekisspoken.MacedoniaPopulation:2,066,718(July,2009).About170.000ofthepopulationareestimated

tobeTurks.Ethnic distribution of population:Macedonian 66.6%,Albanian 22.7%,Turk 4%,

Rumen2.2%,Serb2.1%,theothers(1994)Languages:Macedonian70%,Albanian21%,Turkish3%,Serbian-Croatian3%,the

others3%.

Croatia Population:4,489,409(July,2009)Ethnic distribution of population: Croatian 78.1%, Serb 12.1%, Bosnian 0.9%,

Hungarian0.5%,Slovenian0.5%,Czech0.4%,Albanian0.3%,Rumen0.2%,theothers6.9%(1991).

Languages:Croatian96%,theothers4%(Italian,Hungarian,Czech,SlovenianandDeutsch).

Bosnia- HerzegovinaPopulation:4,613,414(July,2009)Ethnic distribution of population:Bosnian48%,Serb31%,Croatian14.3%,theothers

%.0.6(2000).Languages:Croatian,Serbian,Bosnian(Treeofthemareallofficiallanguages)

h.RomaniaPopulation:22,215,421(July,2009)Ethnic distribution of population:Romanian89,5%,Hungarian7,1%,Roma1,8%,

German0,5%,Ukrainian0,3%,others0,8(1992)Languages: Romanian, Hungarian, Deutsch, Romanian are the representatives of

Latinlanguagesateasternmost.

i.MontenegroPopulation:Approximately684,736July(2007)Ethnic distribution of population: Languages:OfficiallanguageisMontenegron.http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karada%C4%9F

j.SerbiaPopulation: Approximately7,334,935(2010)


Ethnic distribution of population:82.86%Serbian,3.91%Hungarian,1.81%Bosnian,1.44%Roman,1.08%Yugoslavian,%10Others

Languages:OfficiallanguageisSerbian.Slovenia Population:Approximately5,447,502(2007)Ethnic distribution of population: Languages:OfficiallanguageisSlovak.http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakya

TurkeyPopulation:76,805,52(2009) Ethnic distribution of population: Languages:OfficiallanguageisTurkish.http://www.ulkeler.net/turkiye.htm#02

Italy Population:58,126,212(July,2009) Ethnic distribution of population:Italian.Languages:OfficiallanguageisItalian,German,French,Slovene,http://www.ulkeler.

net/italya.htm#02

Caucasus Whenclassifiedintermsofthelanguagestheyspeak,itisseenthatCaucasuspeople

belongtothreedifferentlanguagegroups.1. Caucasus languagesa. Abkhazia- Adige languages(inthewestCaucasus)ItisspokenbypeopleofAbkhazia,Abaza,Şapsığ,Bjeduğ,Jane,Besleney,Abzeh,

Hatkoy,Temirgoy(Kemirguey),Natuhay,Kabardey.b. Chechen- Lezgin languages(inthemiddleCaucasus)It is spoken by the people of Chechen- Ingushetia, Lezgin, Avars, Lak, Dargı,

Tabasaran,Rutul,Tsaahur,Agul.2. Turkic languagesa. Karachai- Malkar(inthemiddleCaucasus)b. Kumyks(inDağıstan)3. Iranian languagesa. Ossetian(inthemiddleCaucasus)b. Tat(inDağıstan)


3. Iranian languages -Ossetian (in the middle Caucasus) -Tat (in Daghıstan)a. Azerbaijan Population:8,238,672(July,2009)Ethnic distribution of population:Azerbaijani90%,Dağıstan3.2%,Russia2.5%,

theothers4.3%.Languages:Azeri91%,Russian3%,theothers6%.

b. GeorgiaPopulation:4,615807(July,2009)Ethnic distribution of population:Georgian70.1%,Armenian8.1%,Russian6.3%,

Azerbaijani5.7%,Ossetian3%,Abkhazia1.8%,theothers5%.Languages:Georgian71%(official),Russian9%,Armenian7%,Azeri6%,theothers

7%.

c. ArmeniaPopulation:2,967,004(July,2009)Ethnic distribution of population:Armanian 97,9%, Kurds 1,3%, Russian 0,5%,

others0,3%(2001).Languages:Armenian96%,Russian2%,theothers2%.

Central AsiaWhiledifferentideasaresetforthonthegeographyofCentralAsia,thetermismostly

usedfortheregionsurroundedbyRussian,China,Afghanistan,IranandCaspianSea,which extend fromVolga toYellowSea, fromSiberia to theHimalayas.This region,called CentralAsia, was named as Turkistan in the past. Persian-Turkish languages,Islamic religion, patriarchal family and hierarchical authority structure are among thedeterminingfactorsoftheregion.

KazakhstanAccordingtoKazakhstanStateStatisticalInstitute,itisthelargestCentralAsianstate.

Besides,thatithasthemostethnicalvarietiesandthatthemainethnicgroupreachesjusthalfofthepopulationdifferentiateKazakhstanfromotherCentralAsianstates.Accordingto1999census,of15millionpopulation,53.4%isKazakh,30%isRussian,3.7%isUkrainian,2.5%isUzbek,2.4%isGerman.

This institute reports thatofficial language isKazakh.Kazakhcomes fromNogai-Kipchaklanguagefamilygroupandthereareseveraldialectsofitthatdonotdifferfromeachother.Besides,KazakhisalsospokeninAfghanistan,ChinaandIran.Accordingto


thedatain1991,whiletherateofKazakhsknowingRussianis59.4%inKazakhstan,therateofRussianpopulationknowingKazakhis0.9%.http://www.Kazstat.asdc.kz/1913-1999/4.htm.

KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan, having themost positive image aboutdemocratization amongCentral

Asianstatesandbeingdefinedasademocracyisland,isinaveryethnicstructurewiththatRussianconstitute13%,Uzbekconstitute14%ofthepopulation.Accordingto1999census,Kirghizconstitute65%,of4.8millionpopulation(Yüce,2006).

Accordingtothisstudy,Kirghiz,putintopracticewiththeArabicalphabetin1923forthefirsttime,wasstartedtobewrittenusingLatinin1928andCyrillicalphabetin1940.Kirghiz,whichhasshowedimprovementuntil1960,startedtoprogressasaresultofchangeofSoviet languagepolicy in thisperiod.Hemaintains thatKirghizcourseswereremovedfromuniversitiesandschoolsalmostall,andasaresultonlyoneschoolprovidingKirghizeducationremainedinthecenter.

UzbekistanTheUzbeks constitute 71% ofUzbekistan population.TheRussians, having 10%

ratecomesecond.Otherethnicelementsand their rates to thegeneralpopulationare:theTajiks4.7%,theKazakhs4%,theKarakalpaks2%,theTatars1.7%,andtheCrimeaTatars1%.Therateofethnicelementsoutsideoftheseisunder1%.(http://www.enfal.de/ozbekistan.htm)

TajikistanInIRNAastudyon“25PercentuzbeksamongTajiksCelebratingLanguageday”in

2001,ithasbeenstatedthatTajikidentityisimprovedwithSovietperiodandhelpedtheTajikstodifferentiatethemselvesfromotherpublicsspeakingPersian,aswasthecasewithUzbeks.2/3ofthepopulationofTajikistanlivesinruralareasandtheyareinterestedinagriculturesinceitslandissuitableforagriculture.Itisbelievedtobeoneofthetwentypoorestcountriesintheworld.Withitssectionalandmountainousgeography,itseemstohavelosttwogreatcivilizationcenters,andthishasmadeTajikistannotabletohaveanationalidentityofitsown.

The same study also reports thatTajik,writtenwithArabic alphabet in 1930 andCyrillicalphabetin1940,continuedtobeusedduringtheSovietUnionperiod.Whilelanguage lawswereput intopracticealmosteverywhere in theSovietUnion in1989,TajikwasacceptedasthestatelanguageinTajikistaninJuly22,1989.

Turkmenistan The3.5millionpopulationofTurkmenistanin1989,thesmallestandpoorestcountry


ofCentralAsia,wascalculatedas4.5million in1995.The rateofTurkmengroup tototalpopulationis72%in1989,77%in1995,and81%in1999.Thesenumbersweredeterminedtobe9%in1989,6.7%in1995and4%in1999forRussiansand9%1989,9.2%1995,10%1999forUzbeksrespectively(Ochs,1997).

Table 2. TheRateofMuslimPeopleinTurkmenistan,AdoptingTurkomanor RussianasMotherTongue

Ethnic Group

The Rate of People Speaking Turkoman as Their Mother

Tongue %

The Rate of Those Speaking Russian as Their Mother Tongue

%1959 1970 1979 1959 1970 1979

Uzbek 22 1.9 2.6 - - -Kazakh 0.7 0.6 0.7 - - -Azerbaijani 1.6 1.0 1.2 - 17.3 18.7Tatar 2.1 1.2 1.1 - 15.8 19.8(Benningsen&EndersWimbush,1986)

Relationship of Turkey with Turkish RepublicsIntheReportofTurkey-TurkicRepublicsRelations(1995),Turkeytendedtobequiet

andindifferenttowardstheTurkishworldoutsideherbordersuntilnow.However,theeventswhich occurred so farmadeTurkey the focus of attention for the independentTurkishstates,RussianFederationandTurkiccommunitieslivingindifferentpositionsinotherstates.ThemostimportantreasonforthisisthedistancekeptbyTurkeythatisinthesameancestryandculturecirclewithfederalstatesandcommunitiesasaresultofherexperiencesinvaluesandpracticessuchasdemocratic,pluralistparliamentarysystem,freedomofreligionandconscience,andmarketeconomy.

Languages Spoken in the Other Eurasian CountriesChinaPopulation:1,338,612,968(July,2009)Ethnic Distribution of Population:Chinese91.9%,Zhuang,Uyghur,Hui,Yi,Tibetan,

Miao,Manchu,Mongolian,Buyi,Koreanandotherethnicgroups8%.Languages:StandardChineseorMandarinwhichisBeijingDialect,Yue(Cantonese),

Wu(Shanghaiese),Minbei(Fuzhou),Minnan(Hokkien-Taiwanese),Xiang,Gan,HakkaDialects,otherlocallanguages.

IndiaPopulation:1,166,079,217(July,2009)Ethnic Distribution of Population:Indian-Aryan72%,Dravidian25%,Mongolian


andtheothers3%(2000)Languages:English,Hindi,Bengali (official),Telugu (official),Marathi (official),

Tamil (official), Urdu (official), Gujarati (official), Malayalam (official), Kannada(official), Oriya (official), Punjabi (official), Assemese (official), Kashmiri (official),Sindhi(official),Sanskrit(official),Hindustani.

Russian Population:140,041,247(July,2009)Ethnic Distribution of Population: Russian 81.5%, Tatars 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%,

Chuvash1.2%,Bashkir0.9%,WhiteRussian0.8%,Moldavian0.7%,theothers8%.Languages:Russian,theothers

IranPopulation:66,429,284(July,2009)Ethnic Distribution of Population: The Persians 51%, Azeris 24%, Gilaki and

Mazandarani8%,Kurdish7%,Arab3%,Lur2%,Baloch2%,Turkoman2%,theothers1%.

Languages:PersianandPersianDialects58%,TurkishandTurkishDialects26%,Kurdish9%,Lurice2%,Balotice1%,Arabic1%,Turkish1%,theothers2%.

Conclusion and SuggestionsLanguageisoneofthemostimportantelementsofanation.Therearemanynations

inEurasiangeographywehaveexamined.Eachofthemhastheirownlanguagesandalsotheselanguageshaveaspecifichistory.Inthisgeography,Indo-Europeanlanguages(suchasGreekandAlbanian),Slav language (suchasBulgarian,Macedonian,andSerbian)andUralic-Altaic languages (such asTurkish and its dialects) are themostly spokenlanguages.

In the historical process, another feature developing together with language isindependency.Nationswereabletousealanguageoftheirownonlywhentheywerefreeandindependent,likeincountrieswhichreachedtheirindependenceintheCentralAsiaandCaucasus.Wecansaythattheuseofanationallanguageisthesignoffreedomandindependentidentityofthatstate.Thisconclusionevenprovesthatlanguageisanationalassetthatshouldmeticulouslybeprotectedandimproved.

AmongtheparamountissuesoftheindependentTurkicRepublicscomesthe“nationallanguage problem”first.A big difference betweenTurkish languages (dialects) is notseenintheregionsTurkslivedbeforeSovietinvasion.DialectsofKazakh,Karakalpaks,Kirghiz,andTatarswereverysimilartoeachother,andpeoplelivingintheseregionscouldunderstandeachothereasily.

AslanguageissueisanimportantproblemintheTurkishworld,theissueofcommonalphabetalsoholdsanimportantplace.CentralAsiaTurkishRepublicshaveusedArabic


alphabetuntil 1928.Following the foundationofTurkishRepublic,Latin letterswereswitchedin1928whileCyrillicalphabet,usedbycommunists,wasimposedonTurksinCentralAsiain1940.

Inaddition,inouropinion,thesecriteriashouldbetakenintoconsiderationtoanalyzethequestionsrelatedtolanguageinEurasiangeographyingeneral.

1. Consideringthatlanguagehasaninstrumentalfunctionrelatedtocommunicationandthatlanguagehasasymbolicfunctionrelatedtonationalidentityandprovidingthatthesefunctionsareinbalanceasmuchaspossible.

2. Noticing that language problems are solved radically in almost no country,avoidingrigid/strictpoliciesthathavehighpossibilitytocomeback.

3. Takingintoaccountthatlanguagecanpartiallybeplannedandonlyinthelong-runitcanbechangedinparallelwithothersocialchanges,preferringsuddenandisolatedlanguagepolicies.

4. keeping inmind thatnot the languages,but the languagegroupswithdifferentbenefitsandattitudestowardslanguageconflict;consideringthatsolutionstothelanguageproblemslieinchanginglanguageattitudes,asetofvaluesandbeliefsaboutlanguage.

5. Astheyallpointoutthatconsciousnessaboutthepoliticaldimensionsoflanguageisvital,takingstepsaboutthisissue;trainingexperts,providinguniversitieswithresearchfacilities,settingupcenters,makingthepublicconsciousaboutlanguageviamediaareverynecessary.

Last but not the least;we can say that a languagewill only have fulfilled its realfunctionwhenitactsasabridgenotanobstaclefornationstobecomefree,communicate,establishconnectionswithothersineconomy,culture,history,policy,etc.

ReferencesBenningsen,A.& S. EndersWimbush (1986).Muslims of the Soviet Empitre, s.98.

Alexandre Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush:Muslims of the Sovietempire:aguide,xvi,294pp.London:C.Hurst&Co.

IRNA,“25PercentuzbeksamongTajiksCelebratingLanguageday”,23.7.2001.Kazakistan Devlet İstatistik Enstitüsü, http://www.Kazstat.asdc.kz/1913-1999/4.htm,

RetrievedonMarch29,2012. Kireev, N. (Haziran-Ağustos 2002). “Rossiyko-Turetskiye Otnoşeniya&Kontekste

Yevraziyskih Kontseptsiy”.Avrasya İşbirliği, Perspektif, 3Aylık Dergi,Yıl:6,Sayı:31,12-13.

Korkmaz,Z. (2001).“Gaspralı İsmailBeyveDildeBirlikToplantısıOturumunuAçışKonuşması”.TürkDünyasıDilveEdebiyatDergisi,12(1),Ankara:TDKYayınları.


Ochs, M. (1997). “Turkmenistan: The Quest for Stability and Control”. Conflict,Cleavage,andChangeinCentralAsiaandtheCaucasus?K.DawishaveB.Parrott(ed),Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,s.333.

Özyetkin,A.M. (2006). “Tarihten Bugüne Türk Dili”. Eski Türk DiliAraştırmaları.Adana:ÇukurovaÜniversitesiTürkolojiAraştırmalarıMerkezi.

Tuna,O.N.(2002).“AltayDilleriTeorisi”,TürkDünyasıElKitabı.2.C.,Ankara:Dil-Kültür-San’at.

Vardar,B.(1988).AçıklamalıDilbilimTerimleriSözlüğü.İstanbul:ABCKitabevi.YedinciBeşYıllıkKalkınmaPlanıDünyadaKüreselleşmeveBölgeselEntegrasyonlar

(AT,NAFTA,PASİFİK)veTürkiye(AT,EFTA,KEİ,TürkCumhuriyetleri,İslamÜlkeleri,ECO)İlişkileriÖİK:Türkiye-TürkCumhuriyetleriİlişkileriRaporuÖzeti.http://ekutup.dpt.gov.tr/kuresell/oik471.pdf,1995,RetrievedonMarch30,2012.

YunanistanAzınlık Raporu 1, 15 aralık 2003, http://www.diplomatikgozlem.com/TR/belge/1-5385/yunanistan-azinlik-raporu--1-.html.RetrievedonMarch20,2012.

Yüce,M.(2006).“KırgızTürklerininUlusalKimlikPolitikası”.AkademikBarışDergisi,Sayı:9,153-160.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_sprachbund,RetrievedonMarch20,2012.http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_dil_birli%C4%9Fi,RetrievedonMarch28,2012.http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/introduction.asp#history, Retrieved on March

20,2012.http://www.akademikbakis.org/pdfs/9/mehmetyuce.doc,RetrievedonMarch29,2012.http://www.enfal.de/ozbekistan.htm,RetrievedonMarch29,2012.http://www.diplomatikgozlem.com/haber_oku.asp?id=1359, Retrieved on March 30,

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