anlatlar

Anlatlar is a Turkish term that refers to narratives, stories, or narrations. In Turkish, the standard plural form is anlatılar, and the word encompasses both oral and written narratives, including folk narratives, legends, anecdotes, autobiographical accounts, and contemporary short stories. The concept is used across literature, folklore, and oral history to describe bodies of narrated texts or performances.

Etymology and form: The base word is anlat- (to tell, narrate). The noun formed is anlatı (a narration, an account), and the plural is anlatılar. The spelling anlatlar is a nonstandard variant sometimes found in texts that omit diacritics or in casual usage; in scholarly Turkish, anlatılar is the preferred form.

Usage and contexts: Anlatlar appear in a range of contexts within Turkish and Turkic-speaking cultures. They include orally transmitted folktales, myths, legends, and personal or community histories, as well as formal literary narratives. Researchers study anlatılar to understand memory, identity, regional variation, and the dynamics of storytelling across generations. An anthology or archive of anlatılar may organize material by region, genre, or performance context, highlighting how stories adapt to audience and setting.

Relation to other terms: Anlatı is broader than a single narrative and emphasizes the act of telling, structure, and voice. It overlaps with genres such as hikâye (short story) and masal (fairy tale) but remains a distinct categorization used in academic and cultural discourse to discuss narrated literature and oral tradition.