The last weeks of class consisted of a fun review with Turkish coffee and Turkish delights provided by our lovely language partner! It was super yummy. Our language partner asked us for any questions we may have, and afterwards all 3 of us students did a compilation on the whiteboard of all the Turkish words we know. We finally took the final exam on the last week, which we were very scared of, but our language partner is a super nice grader so it went fine. I was very proud of myself for actually understanding the passages, questions, etc. on the final and for knowing how to answer them as well. Taking everything in Turkish and answering everything in Turkish made me feel like a real Turkish student. I am so surprised and grateful that I genuinely learned a large chunk of Turkish in only one semester! I can actually understand some parts of Turkish music now and read the Turkish comments. I plan to continue speaking to my awesome Turkish pen pal and jamming out to some Turkish tunes as I always have :) Hopefully I can make my dream of going to Istanbul come true soon as well!

The 10^th and 11^th weeks of my language learning consisted of learning about family members and how to refer to your own family members and others’ family members. This is where we really had to exercise our knowledge of the possessive conjugation that we learned prior. It was a huge mental exercise for me and definitely took some getting used to. To get used to these concepts, we described a person via their family members, i.e. we figured out someone was a daughter, younger sister, etc. based on their relation to their family members. There are also a lot of family member titles, and for the aunts and uncles there are different names depending on whether the aunt or uncle is on the paternal side of the family or the maternal side. Getting used to the large amount of family words and possessive at the same time was quite a mental stretch for me, but it was very gratifying once I got a hang of it.

The 9^th and 8^th weeks of my language learning consisted of learning about possessive conjugation, i.e. expressing how someone or something is possessed, if it is mine, his/hers/theirs, his/hers/theirs formal, theirs plural, or ours. This is accomplished by adding a suffix to the end of the word, which delineates who that thing or person belongs to. This suffix must, of course, follow vowel harmony based on the last vowel in the word. This was, for some reason, very hard to catch onto for me! I kept messing it up with all the other suffix conjugations we had learn. We also learned how to say ‘to’ (a/e suffix) (which is something we somewhat learned before, but not explicitly) and ‘from’ (dan/den/tan/ten). These are, of course, picked based on vowel harmony from the last vowel in the word, and in the case of ‘from’ based on the last consonant of the word as well.

The 7^th and 8^th weeks of my language learning consisted of learning basic verbs and how to conjugate these verbs into the present progressive/gerund form. There are differentiations in how to conjugate a word based on whether the verb root form ends with a vowel or consonant, and which consonant. A buffer vowel is used if the verb root form ends with a vowel rather than a consonant, and the buffer vowel must follow vowel harmony based on the last vowel in the root verb. As with adjectives, there were a lot of verbs! This, time I decided to repeatedly write out a list of verbs to memorize them. Our language partner also taught us how to express frequency, i.e. how frequently a verb was done. Some of these frequency-related phrases and expressions include her zaman (all the time), her gün (every morning), bazen (sometimes), asla (never), and much, much more.

The 5^th and 6^th weeks of my language learning consisted of learning and reinforcing how to say yes or no questions, and a lot, lot of adjectives. The construction of yes or no questions, put in very simple terms, is the adding of either mı, mi, mu, mü at the end of a sentence. The correct ending is chosen based on vowel harmony. When asking if something is there, the word “var” is added before the question suffix; when asking if something is not there, the word “yok” is added before the question suffix. Due to the large amount of adjectives our language professor introduced us to, I made another Quizlet specifically for some of the most common adjectives (https://quizlet.com/331105251/turkish-unit-2-adjectives-flash-cards/). I would like to think that I am çalışkan (hardworking), but I am definitely tembel (lazy) in all reality. We also reinforced our learning of numbers, learning how to ask how much something costs in Turkish - “Bu kaç lira/para?” (How much Turkish Lira/money is this?)

The 3^rd and 4^th weeks of my language learning consisted of learning basic vocabulary and how to refer to the things around you, such as ‘this’, ‘that’, and ‘that over there’, which is ‘bu’, ‘şu’, and ‘o’ respectively. Our language professor had us create vocabulary lists of some basic words, but I accidentally went a little too far and made a Quizlet with 221 terms (https://quizlet.com/318723144/turkish-unit-1-vocabulary-flash-cards/). I was not paying attention when she said “some.” The vocabulary I learned and compiled consisted of basic nouns such as common locations, items, foods, professions, animals, etc. A lot of these basic verbs borrowed or had influence from Arabic, Persian, and English, so I found that influence to be helpful in learning the words. I also learned about asking where someone or something is located, which is “Nerede?”, along with how to say where someone or something is with the location words we learned. We also started learning numbers in Turkish.

The first two weeks of my Turkish language learning consisted of easing myself into Turkish. Our language professor gave us many cool videos going over summaries of the Turkish language and the state of modern Turkey. Turkish and its derivative languages are spoken in so many places! Turkish also has heavy influences on the other languages around it, such as Persian and Arabic, and these languages have also had a large influence on Turkish as well. It was interesting seeing the history of a country and its surrounding regions being present in its language. I also learned about some important introductory Turkish logistics, such as greetings in Turkish, how to introduce myself in Turkish, the Turkish alphabet, and the concept of vowel harmony. Vowel harmony did not make sense to me when I first learned about it at the beginning, but once I started using it in several different grammatical mechanisms in later weeks, it made perfect sense to me.

This is my first conversation with Ertugrul, the really nice and patient pen-pal Merve Hocam, our language partner, helped me find! Speaking with him gave me plenty of Turkish practice and helped me get accustomed to what actual Turkish people commonly say. In my opening message, I say “Hello Ertugrul! My name is Azin, I am Merve’s student” when translated to English. Ertugrul replied with “Hello, Azin! Nice to meet you. Yes, Merve told me.”

This is an example of an Ezan. If you ever take a trip to Turkey, you will commonly hear the Ezan, or Muslim call to prayer, in any town or city you visit. The ezan is chanted six times a day, commonly originating from a mosque in the city. The times are called İmsak, Güneş, Öğle, İkindi, Akşam, and Yatsı, which translate to pre-dawn, sunrise, noon, mid-afternoon, evening, and night respectively. The locations and exact times for these calls are subject to change depending on the season and geographical relationship of the location to Mecca. The Turkish government, specifically the Republic of Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs, provides information for all these times and locations on their website.

The Ezan is conducted as the Salaah, or fixed ritual of Islamic prayer, is conducted in many other Muslim-majority countries. A majority of people in Turkey are Sunni Muslims, about 80.5%, whereas Shia Muslims make up 16.5% of the population. In Sunni Islam, individuals are expected to pray 5 times a day for Salaah, to which Ezan follows rather than the Shia Islam ritual of praying 3 times a day.

A huge part of understanding a culture is immersing yourself into that culture’s environment. Every part of the world has its own unique sound environment, or soundscape, filled with sounds special to that place. Istanbul is no exception. Sounds of the Istanbul ‘nostalgic tram’, a historic tramway that travels across Istanbul, Turkish bagel vendors calling out to customers and selling their baked goods, tea stalls, calls to prayer, car horns, the sea, and so much more make Istanbul sound different than any other part of the world.

Istanbul’s soundscape is notably a mix of the old and new, with pieces of traditional Turkish culture, such as those of the call to prayer or vendors, coming into contact with sounds of modernity such as car horns, smartphone notification sounds, and construction (usually being done to make renovations on many old structures in Istanbul). Istanbul is also notably ‘louder’ than Western European cities, with many of the sounds old and new produced in the city creating an environment with more and louder sounds than those commonly found in Western European settings. I personally find the quiet to be boring, so I certainly do not mind!

The song “Üzülmedin mi?”, which translates to "Are you not upset?" in English, by Simge is one of my favorite pieces of modern Turkish music. Even prior to taking Turkish here at UR, I was listening to this song. It is awesome! This song is a good example for what modern Turkish music commonly sounds like. Modern Turkish music often infuses modern popular, standard pop music sounds with sounds unique to traditional Turkish music.

If you look at the viewer count for the video right now, it is at a staggeringly high 99,557,511 views. If you look at the comments, in addition to all the posts in Turkish, you see people from all over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia proclaiming their love for Turkish music. Turkish music is amazingly popular and has a huge impact all across not only Turkey but its neighbors both near and far as well. Everyone knows how awesome it is!

The nazar boncuğu, a blue amulet that is shaped like an eye, is a common sight to see across Turkey, hung up inside Turkish homes and being sold at bazaars. The nazar is used to ward off the ‘evil eye’, a concept believed across Western Asia that people experiencing good fortune are unknowingly being cast a malevolent, curse-like glare from the ‘evil eye’. Turkey is a huge producer of the nazar boncuğu that are sold all over the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Our language partner Merve Hocam actually gave us tiny nazar boncuğu of our own to keep! They’re very cute and tiny.

Turkish Delights are a well-known confection around the world which, as the name would imply, is produced in Turkey. Interestingly enough, the origin of Turkish Delights is debated, with some sources claiming it was originated in the Ottoman Empire, but others claiming it may have been in the Persian Empire. There is no contention, however, that Turkey itself is the heart of the Turkish Delight industry, and it has been the main producer of such delicious confections since the 1700s.

Turkish Delights are almost like gummies, but softer in consistency when bitten into. I really love them! Many times they are flavored with rosewater, which I find to be absolutely delicious. When I would visit Iran as a child, I loved going to the local market and buying Turkish Delights imported in from Turkey. There were even special Iranian spins on Turkish Delights that were sold. I have also seen Turkish Delights being sold at cultural events in Washington D.C. It’s interesting seeing a piece of Turkey and Turkish culture being distributed everywhere all over the world!

Turkish coffee is a very notable and unique cultural food in Turkey that has its own tradition. Turkish coffee is prepared differently than the standard coffee that is drank all over the world – having a unique taste and consistency. During gatherings at someone’s home, Turkish coffee is almost always served, with tea being served otherwise.

Our language partner, Merve Hocam, was nice enough to make us a cup of Turkish coffee in her own cups (fıncan)! Being able to have a nice cup of Turkish coffee felt like a nice way of experiencing what people in Turkey experience every day. I did not know what to expect in terms of taste when I drank this, but it was definitely different from any other coffee I have ever had before.

Spices are very important in Turkish food! Turkish food is plenty flavorful, and in order to create such fantastic flavors, Turkish people incorporate multiple different spices into their foods. One of the biggest areas of spice trade in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, is the Spice Bazaar. There, several spice shops are set up selling the vast number and types of spices that Turkish cuisine is known for. Turkish delights and other confections are also commonly sold in the Spice Bazaar.

The Spice Bazaar has existed since 1660, and its architecture has largely remained the same even through reconstructions. Because of this, the Spice Bazaar is a unique look at the blend of the old, traditional Turkish world in the modern age, a special concept seen a lot across Istanbul and an important & fascinating part of modern Turkish culture.

AzinB_Reflection2.docx

I would like to conduct a study of morphology variations across Turkey and even in nearby countries with languages in the Turkish language family, especially Azerbaijan. In order to this, I would like to ideally travel across through all of Turkey, all the way to Azerbaijan, and collect sound clips and written phonological notes of how people say the same set of standard sentences, as well as recording general conversations for varieties the standard sentences will not be able to cover.

Turkish, like any language, has many morphemes. Because Turkish is an agglutinative language, needing suffixes and adding suffixes on top of those suffixes to give meaning, it has a huge dependency on derivational morphemes. I would like to investigate how these morphological structures differ in pronunciation and placement in different regions of Turkey, this includes any possible differences in free variation as well. I would also like to see if the agglutinative qualities of Turkish is lower in certain regions of the country. Perhaps these communities have their own unique organizational patterns or they have more influence from non-agglutinative languages.

Azerbaijani is a very interesting language in that it is from the same language family as Turkish and is very similar to Turkish in many ways but is also under heavy influence from its own unique language and Persian. Their inflectional morphology varies a lot with mainland Turkish, with some Azeri dialects using similar suffixes to that of mainland Turkish whereas some suffixes differ. An example I found is of ‘geliyorum’ (I am coming) in Turkish becoming ‘geliyerem’ in some Azeri dialects, with the vowels and pronunciation of the inflectional morpheme suffixes (-um in Turkish and -em in Azeri) changing.

Thanks to my language partner, I have been writing in Turkish since early on in the semester. Since modern Turkish is Romanized, it was quick to pick up the reading and writing, though there are sounds and letters that do not exist in English that do in Turkish such as ı, ğ, ş, ü, ç, and ö. I prefer to write in free hand simply because it is quite a pain finding the keys for the special Turkish letters on the keyboard. Additionally, the ‘i’ is replaced with ‘ı’, and it is hard switching to a completely new key for using ‘i’.

There is a definite clear pattern in Turkish writing: it is heavily dependent on suffixes. The addition of suffixes to words creates the central meaning to the whole sentence. Conjugation, of course, is integral to Turkish sentences as well, but even conjugation requires the use of suffixes to denote who the action is being done by, to, or from. For instance, saying “okula gidiyorum” translates to “I am going to school,” whereas saying “okuldan gidiyorsun” translates to “you are coming from school.” Both sentences use the same root words, okul and gitmek, however the suffixes are what make the meaning so different. The suffix -a in ‘okula’ denotes ‘to’ and the suffix -um in the conjugated ‘gitmek’ denotes ‘I’. The suffix -dan in ‘okuldan’ denotes ‘from’ and the suffix -sun in the conjugated ‘gitmek’ denotes ‘you’. Interestingly enough, I have found the organization or words (word order) to be very similar to English so far.

In a world where English is ever-prevalent all over the world – on the internet, on television, in books, in airports, virtually anywhere and everywhere – it is no surprise that less prominent languages can die out under its shadow. Languages spoken by indigenous groups with a very small community of speakers face huge risk of extinction. First and foremost, the amount of people you can speak to and utilize that language with is greatly diminished. If you are forced to use English the majority of the time and rarely get the chance to use your other native language, it will be very hard being immersed in it. In cases like the article mentioned in which Native American children were forced into public schools that “aimed to stamp out native ways and tongues,” generations of Natives are taught to never learn their mother tongue and have incredibly restricted usage.

But there are other factors as well. As discussed by David Harrison, many of these languages’ speakers are elderly. The younger population have not inherited the language from their elders, and the last speakers of the language face the risk of passing away without the language not being passed on.  Even in the case of linguists who want to document these languages so that they do not become extinct, it is difficult being able to communicate with elderly people because of issues with geriatric health, like deafness or hardness of hearing. Without being able to communicate with these speakers, you cannot retrieve the knowledge they can potentially impart. The language is not transmitted and dies out. In addition, younger generations may be impacted by low self-esteem as Harrison also mentioned, thinking English may be a superior language or that their parents’ native language is unworthy of being learned. This again is also connected to what Native American children experienced in their public schools, with their native tongues being forcibly ignored and stamped out.

Linguists can help preserve a language the same way Bud Lane is doing with his online Siletz Dee-ni Talking Dictionary and David Harrison did in his recordings of native languages in Siberia and other indigenous cultures as well. It is important for pieces of language to persevere so they can be picked up again. It is through this record that a dead language can be revived again.

The Turkish language belongs to the Altay branch of the Ural-Altaic linguistic family, which is the same language family Finnish and Hungarian belong to. This was actually quite surprising to me as I did not expect these European languages to be sister languages or very closely related to Turkish, at least not that of Finnish. Hungarian makes a bit more sense to me as it is a bit closer to Turkey, but Finland is so far away! Despite this, the actual language family of Turkish consists of the Turkic languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani (or Azeri), Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkmen, Uighur, Uzbek, and many other languages from Central Asia, the Balkans, northwestern China, and Siberia. Turkish itself refers to the language spoken in Turkey, however.

The existence of a great many Arabic and Persian loan words is a huge indicator of all the times Turkey has been in contact with Arab and Persian countries throughout its history. It seems that in almost each new Turkish vocabulary set I make or discover, there is a large number of Arab and Persian loan words that I recognize almost immediately. The Ottoman, Arab, and Persian empires have had many, many points of contact for hundreds of years, whether it be through the Silk Road, each empire conquering the other, the spread of Islam, or many, many other countless events of contact. Even before the Ottoman, Arab, or Persian empires being of existence, these people in that part of the world were in constant contact with one another and always in exchange of culture and language.

There is also the presence of many English and French loan words in Turkish, as there is in many languages across the world. This is an indicator of both previous colonialism and European influence in Turkey, as well as, in a more recent context, popular words being adopted into Turkish from popular Western cultural items that are known internationally.

All of this is a clear indicator of how language changes and adapts with culture. Language is a communicator of culture; just as culture is ever-changing from outside and inside influences, language is as well. Learning about the other influences that have impacted Turkish, such as Western languages and Arabic and Persian, can serve as a great supplement to my learning of the Turkish language. Additionally, learning Turkish can help me with all these languages as well! I am, though unintentionally, learning vocabulary for them as well as Turkish.