If I were to receive a grant to research Turkish language and culture I think I would focus on topics that interest me, because I’ve found that makes learning so much easier (which is why I chose Turkish!). I would probably look into Turkish history or archaeology (like my presentation) because first of all the history is super rich and interesting, but there is so much to learn language-wise that I could use if I actually went to Turkey to do an excavation or further research. For the latter part, I would look at how dialects change from cities to the countryside because I remember my archaeology professor talking about how she had to learn different ways of speaking when she did excavations in rural parts of Turkey. I would also look at the proper terminology for archaeological finds and such and how Turkey categorizes finds and write their history, because I know it’s different from how I’ve learned it, and I’d like to know if history was written to be nationalistic or just simply how it was viewed.
In terms of language and structural components, I might look more into sentence structure and why it is that way (if there is a reason). I’d like to learn how and why more Germanic languages have SVO structures while so many others have SOV structures and how that influences worldviews.
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I wrote one of my cultural posts on Turkish grammar structure and one of my classes this semester (Syntax - CLSC 105) is all about word/sentence order. You might like it if that's what you're interested in studying.
Hi Emmie! I think it would be super amazing to record all the different dialects in Turkey when we go on our grand journey across Turkey. I wonder what kind of dialect Veli has?
Love,
Azin
This is an exciting premise, Emmie and Azin! I suspect you could actually find an online database detailing dialectal variations across Turkey. Let me know if you'd like a few recommendations for resources on this front.
On a completely unrelated note, Netflix recently shot an episode of Chef's Table on a famous Istanbul culinary ethnographer, Musa Dağdeviren. His restaurant, Ciya, serves dishes from all different regions and traditions of Turkey. This is still extremely tentative, but I'm working with Dr. Yucel Yanikdag to try to invite Musa to the University of Richmond for a lecture and special cooking demonstration. The dishes he prepares are often referred to by different names and cooking styles, depending on the region and culture of origin.
https://istanbulfood.com/musa-dagdeviren-the-food-pioneer-on-chefs-...