Turkospeaking

Turkospeaking refers to the use and study of the Turkish language by speakers who consider Turkish their primary or native language, as well as by communities and institutions where Turkish is used officially or widely. It encompasses everyday speech, education, media, and literature, and is a common focus of sociolinguistic research on language maintenance, shift, and diglossia.

Turkish is a member of the Turkic language family, in the Oghuz branch. It is an agglutinative language with vowel harmony and a typical subject–object–verb sentence order. The standard language is based on the Istanbul variety and serves as the basis for education, administration, and national media in Turkey. The modern Turkish orthography uses the Latin alphabet, introduced in 1928 as part of Atatürk’s language reforms; earlier Turkish varieties were written with the Arabic script. Historical contact with Persian, Arabic, and European languages has left a substantial lexicon in everyday use.

Geographic distribution centers on Turkey, where Turkish is the official language, and Northern Cyprus, where it is the dominant language in governance and daily life. Turkish-speaking communities are also established abroad, notably in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, and Bulgaria, among others, due to migration and diaspora networks. In these communities, Turkish is maintained through family transmission, Turkish-language media, education, and cultural institutions, often alongside the host country’s language.

Dialects and varieties of Turkish include regional forms such as Istanbul Turkish and Anatolian Turkish, with standard Turkish functioning as the national norm for schooling and media. Language policy, education, and media influence language use among both native speakers and learners, contributing to ongoing patterns of language maintenance and change within Turkospeaking communities.