Similarities and differences between Turkic languages and comparative methods in teaching them
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2018.1.9Keywords:
Turkic language; Turkic peoples; Kyrgyz language; problems of teaching language; Turkey; methods of teachingAbstract
Turkic languages are cognate language which stem back to the single ancestor – Proto-Turkic language. In the course of long and convoluted history of Turkic-speaking peoples, all of their languages suffered various degrees of change on every level of its structure – in phonemes, morphemes, vocabulary and syntax. At the same time, all of these languages have preserved some of their common features which link them to their ancestor tongue. In this article, the author, from her long experience of teaching Kyrgyz at Ankara University, explains her vision of teaching Turkic languages in general and describes the methods and approaches which she deems helpful in successful teaching on university level.
In teaching a Turkic language, the main objective is not to focus on language study as such, but take a breathtaking journey along the hidden paths of one’s mother tongue and get to understand it in a more profound way, in its historical retrospective. Turkic languages have always attracted linguists and were in the focus of their studies. Getting acquainted with various linguistic theories and the works of prominent Turkologists, as seen from teaching practice, is also very helpful to shape an enduring interest in learning both the target language and first language more profoundly.
We also have to take into account such extralinguistic factors as the objective of language study, friendliness of the environment and the demand for language in a given environment. The article examines these issues through the alphabets and their various uses among Turkic peoples. When setting up a language study program, it is also important to take into account how familiar students are with the target language.
Overall, this new type of work required a fundamental study of methodological foundations of language teaching. New types of academic and learners’ dictionaries have to be prepared, as well as new textbooks to help students of a specific Turkic language.
References
Baskakov, N. A. (1962) Vvedenie v izuchenie tiurkskikh iazykov [Introduction into the Study of Turkic Languages]. Moscow, Vysshaia shkola. 331 p. (In Russ.).
Baskakov, N. A. (1966) Tiurkskie iazyki (obshchie svedeniia i tipologicheskaia kharakteristika) [Turkic Languages: General Information and Typological Characteristics)]. In: Iazyki narodov SSSR [The Languages of the Peoples of the USSR]. Moscow, Nauka. Vol. 2. Tiurkskie iazyki [Turkic language]. 529 p. (In Russ.).
Batmanov, I. A. (1963) Sovremennyi kirgizskii iazyk [Contemporary Kyrgyz Language]. Frunze, AN Kirgiz. SSR Publ. 165 p. (In Russ.).
Gadzhieva, N. Z. (1997) Tiurkskie iazyki [Turkic Languages]. In: Iazyki mira. Tiurkskie iazyki [Languages of the World. Turkic Languages]. Moscow, Indrik. 543 p. (In Russ.).
Zhusupakmatov, L. (1983) Otnoshenie kirgizskogo iazyka k sibirskim tiurkskim iazykam [The Relations between Kyrgyz Language and Siberian Turkic Languages]. Frunze, Ilim. (In Russ.).
Oruzbaeva, B. O. (1997) Kirgizskii iazyk [Kyrgyz Language]. In: Iazyki mira. Tiurkskie iazyki [Languages of the World. Turkic Languages]. Moscow, Indrik. 543 p. (In Russ.).
Tenishev, E. R., Gadzhieva, N. Z., Serebrennikov, B. A. et al. (1984) Sravnitel'no-istoricheskaia grammatika tiurkskikh iazykov. Fonetika [A Comparative Historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Phonetics]. Moscow, Nauka. 483 p. (In Russ.).
Tenishev, E. R., Arakin, V. D., Blagova, G. F. et al. (1988) Sravnitel'no-istoricheskaia grammatika tiurkskikh iazykov. Morfologiia [Comparative-historical grammar of Turkic languages. Morphology]. Moscow, Nauka. 423 p. (In Russ.).
Tenishev, E. R., Gadzhieva, N. Z., Serebrennikov, B. A. et al. (1986) Sravnitel'no-istoricheskaia grammatika tiurkskikh iazykov. Sintaksis [A Comparative Historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Syntax]. Moscow, Nauka. 283 p. (In Russ.).
Tenishev, E. R., Blagova, G. F., Dobrodomov, I. G. et al. (1997) Sravnitel'no-istoricheskaia grammatika tiurkskikh iazykov. Leksika [A Comparative Historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: Vocabulary]. Moscow, Nauka. 799 p. (In Russ.).
Tenishev, E. R., Blagova, G. F., Dobrodomov, I. G., Dybo, A. V. et al. (2006) Sravnitel'no-istoricheskaia grammatika tiurkskikh iazykov. Pratiurkskii iazyk-osnova. Kartina mira pratiurkskogo etnosa po dannym iazyka [A Comparative Historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: The Proto-Turkic Ancestor Language. The World Picture of Proto-Turks according to Their Language]. Moscow, Nauka. 908 p. (In Russ.).
Iunusaliev, B. M. (1966) Kirgizskii iazyk [Kyrgyz Language]. In: Iazyki narodov SSSR [The Languages of the Peoples of the USSR]. Moscow, Nauka. Vol. 2. Tiurkskie iazyki [Turkic Languages]. 529 p. (In Russ.).
Cumakunova, G. (2005) Türkçe-Kırgızca Sözlük [A Turkish-Kyrgyz Dictionary]. Bişkek, KTMU Yayınları. 1000 p. (In Turkish and Kyrgyz).
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Author Biography
Gyulzura Zhumakunova, Ankara University
Doctor of Philology, Professor, Department of Turkic Languages and Literatures, Ankara University.
Postal address: Şemsettin Günaltay Cad. 303. Sok. 2/3, Kırkkonaklar, Çankaya Ankara 06700.
Tel.: +90 312 310 32 80.
Email: gulzura@gmail.com
Author(s) license holder(s) grant rights for their work to the journal (grantee of a license) under the simple non-exclusive open license in accordance with Art. 1286.1 «Open license for a research work, work of literature or fine arts», Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
New Research of Tuva publishes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC).
Since it is an open license, author(s) reserve the right to upload the article to their institutional repository, submit it to another journal (if it allows republications), or republish it on their own website (in full, or in part).
However, several conditions apply here:
a) The republished version must always contain the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s), the original title and the hyperlink to the original version on the New Research of Tuva website;
b) It must be in open access, free of charge, and no category of readers must be in any way whatsoever advantaged over general readership.
c) should the contribution be submitted elsewhere by its author(s) without substantial modification (30% or more of original text unchanged), the body of the article should contain a disclaimer that the original version was published in New Research of Tuva (with a link to the respective page)
The CC-BY-NC is a non-revocable license which applies worldwide and lasts for the duration of the work’s copyright.
