Sociolinguistic situation of Kurdish in Turkey: Sociopolitical factors and language use patterns
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Ergin Öpengin,
Abstract
This article aims at exploring the minority status of Kurdish language in Turkey. It asks two main questions: (1) In what ways have state policies and socio-historical conditions influenced the evolution of linguistic behavior of Kurdish speakers? (2) What are the mechanisms through which language maintenance versus language shift tendencies operate in the speech community? The article discusses the objective dimensions of the language situation in the Kurdish region of Turkey. It then presents an account of daily language practices and perceptions of Kurdish speakers. It shows that language use and choice are significantly related to variables such as age, gender, education level, rural versus urban dwelling and the overall socio-cultural and political contexts of such uses and choices. The article further indicates that although the general tendency is to follow the functional separation of languages, the language situation in this context is not an example of stable diglossia, as Turkish exerts its increasing presence in low domains whereas Kurdish, by contrast, has started to infringe into high domains like media and institutions. The article concludes that the prevalent community bilingualism evolves to the detriment of Kurdish, leading to a shift-oriented linguistic situation for Kurdish.
©[2012] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Introduction. Kurdish: Linguicide, resistance and hope
- Kurdish in Iran: A case of restricted and controlled tolerance
- The indivisibility of the nation and its linguistic divisions
- Modernity and the linguistic genocide of Kurds in Turkey
- Turkey's Kurdish language policy
- Untying the tongue-tied: Ethnocide and language politics
- Sociolinguistic situation of Kurdish in Turkey: Sociopolitical factors and language use patterns
- Concluding remarks
- Book review. Politics and language ideology in Kurdish lexicography
- Small languages and small language communities 72
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Introduction. Kurdish: Linguicide, resistance and hope
- Kurdish in Iran: A case of restricted and controlled tolerance
- The indivisibility of the nation and its linguistic divisions
- Modernity and the linguistic genocide of Kurds in Turkey
- Turkey's Kurdish language policy
- Untying the tongue-tied: Ethnocide and language politics
- Sociolinguistic situation of Kurdish in Turkey: Sociopolitical factors and language use patterns
- Concluding remarks
- Book review. Politics and language ideology in Kurdish lexicography
- Small languages and small language communities 72
