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Whence Turkish?
As I researched for this post, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the history of the Turkish language mirrors that of the Turks themselves.
The origins of the Turkish language, much like that of the Turks themselves, are not known with certainty. The oldest extant record of written Turkish dates back to the 8th century A.D. Named the “Orkhon inscriptions”, this ancient record found on two stones was created by a Turkic group called the Göktürks in modern-day Mongolia. The Göktürks inscribed on these stones praises of their leader Bilge Khagan as well as the dimensions of their empire. Though the oldest extant written record of Turkish dates to the 8th century A.D., the language itself is much older.
Origins
In its earliest and purest stage, this Turkish language was spoken by all Turkic peoples with only minute variations between groups. As these different groups, clans, and tribes of the Turkic peoples migrated to different places and came in contact with different civilizations and languages, however, this early Turkish split into many different variations. Linguists classify these different variations under two headings: Western Turkish and Eastern Turkish.
Eastern Turkish is so named because it is the category for the variations of Turkish spoken by those groups/clans/tribes who migrated eastward. Today Uzbeks and Uyghurs speak these variations of Turkish.
Western Turkish categorizes the languages of those Turkish groups, clans, and tribes who migrated westward. Today, Türks (of Turkey), Gagauz Türks, Türkmen, and Azeris speak these variations of Turkish.
Foreign influence
Since this website is concerned with the official language of the Republic of Turkey, we will follow the developments of Western Turkish. As Turkic peoples migrated westward, they came in contact with both Arabs and Persians. This led to these Turkic peoples adopting the Arabo-Persian alphabet and also numerous loan words. This “Persianizing/Arabizing” of Turkish continued throughout the Selçuklu Empire (~1037–1194) and reached its zenith with the Ottoman Empire (~1299–1923). During the early Ottoman Empire, Persian and Arabic grammar constructions came into Turkish, and the ensuing linguistic concoction was called Ottoman Turkish.
The pure Turkish of the earlier period had now taken on the Arabo-Persian alphabet, Persian and Arabic grammar constructions, and many loan words. This is fitting, as the Ottoman Empire itself was made up of disparate peoples and cultures united under one sovereign. The Ottoman language at least somewhat reflected the Ottoman Empire itself. This “foreignization” of Turkish continued through the years, as loan words began to flood in from Western languages (French, German, English).
Modern Turkish
Beginning in the 19th century, many in the Ottoman Empire wanted to simplify the language, as it had become quite unwieldy with so many different loan words and foreign grammar constructions. This desire was realized in the early 20th century under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. After founding the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal decided to radically change the Turkish language spoken in the new republic. To accomplish this, he founded the Turkish Language Society, which began by discarding the Arabo-Persian alphabet and replacing it with a Latin alphabet. The Society then replaced foreign loan words with “pure” Turkish words. This was accomplished either by resurrecting an ancient Turkish word or by creating a brand-new Turkish word on the spot. The Society also did away with the foreign grammar constructions. Ottoman Turkish became a dead language through this process, and in its place modern Turkish was born. It is this Turkish that the citizens of the Republic of Turkey speak today.
Though the Turkish Language Society was largely successful, numerous loan words from Arabic, Farsi, German, French, and English still exist in modern-day Turkish. As is the case with any language in today’s globalized society, Turkish has no choice but to receive loan words from other languages, and indeed, I believe it is enriched through them.
As I stated earlier, the history of the Turkish language reflects that of the Turks themselves. Long ago a pure Turkish language shared by many nomadic clans, Turkish came under the extremely heavy influence of Persian and Arabic as the Turks served Persian and Arabic Empires before founding their own. Later this language became a hodgepodge of both Eastern and Western words and grammar constructions as the Ottomans ruled over half the world. Then in the 1920’s the language was stripped of foreign influence as much as possible and became “Turkish for the Turks,” as designed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. As time has passed however, the language has again taken on words from both East and West to become its own language in the midst of many disparate influences.
The history of the language section reads well and contains thorough but not overly laborious information.