| Türk Dil Kurumu | |
 Logo of the Turkish Language Association | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | TDK |
|---|---|
| Formation | July 12, 1932; 93 years ago (1932-07-12) |
| Purpose | Regulatory body of theTurkish language |
| Headquarters | Atatürk Boulevard No.: 217,Çankaya, 0668Ankara,Turkey |
Official language | Turkish |
President | Osman Mert[2] |
Key people | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Sâmih Rif'at (Yalnızgil) Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın Celâl Sahir Erozan Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu[1] |
| Website | www |
TheTurkish Language Association (Turkish:Türk Dil Kurumu,TDK) is theregulatory body for theTurkish language, founded on 12 July 1932 by the initiative ofMustafa Kemal Atatürk and headquartered inAnkara,Turkey. The Institution acts as the official authority on the language, contributes to linguistic research on Turkish and otherTurkic languages, and is charged with publishing the official dictionary of the language,Güncel Türkçe Sözlük.
A Language Council (Turkish:Dil Heyeti) which was established in March 1926 following approval of a draft bill presented byEducation MinisterMustafa Necati in theTurkish parliament.[3] In 1928 it was tasked with the latinization of theTurkish alphabet.[3] The Language Council would be put under the supervision of a Central Bureau, in which alsoAhmet Cevat Emre, later the head of the Grammar and Syntax commission of the TDK would take a seat in.[3] Upon request of Prime MinisterIsmet Paşa (Inönü) the Language Council attempted to translate the French dictionaryPetit Larousse into Turkish.[4] The council then assigned certain words from the new Turkish dictionary to popular Turkish authors and professors of theIstanbul University, the only Turkish university at that time.[4] The professors refused the use of the proposed neologisms which caused some protest by the Language Council to Ismet Paşa.[5] The language council was dissolved in July 1931, after the Turkish parliament canceled their funds over the lack of results.[6] Also years after having been tasked to translate the French Larousse, there was no Turkish translation of it.[6]
The TDK was established on 12 July 1932, initially under the nameTürk Dili Tetkik Cemiyeti (Society for Research on the Turkish Language) by the initiative of Atatürk, president of theRepublic of Turkey,Samih Rıfat,Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın, Celâl Sahir Erozan andYakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, all prominent names in the literature of the period and members of theGrand National Assembly of Turkey. Following the establishment of the TDK,Mustafa Kemal Atatürk called for the purification of the Turkish language, in order to remove the "yoke of the foreign tongues“.[7]
The first president of the association wasSamih Rıfat, the first secretary general wasRuşen Eşref Ünaydın,[8] the head specialist wasAbdülkadir İnan[9][10] and the head western languages specialist wasAgop Dilaçar.[11]
The institution's name was changed toTurkish Language Research Institute in 1934, and it became the Turkish Language Institution in 1936.[12]
The institution heads academic linguistic research in Turkey into the Turkish language and its sisterTurkic languages ofCentral Asia. In the 1930s theHittite andSumerian languages were also included into the group of Turkish languages, while the origin ofIndo-European andSemitic language was disputed.[7]
At the same time, the Association led campaigns to replace theArabic andPersianloanwords in the Turkish language. During the 3rd Congress theSun Language Theory was presented according to which the Ural-Altaic, Indo-European and Semitic languages had their source in the Turkish language. And since Turkish was the source of all languages, loanwords could further on persist and French loanwords were adopted more frequently.[13]
Recently however, the attention of the institution has been turned towards the persistent infiltration of Turkish, like many other languages, withEnglish words, as a result of the globalization process. Since the 1980s, TDK campaigns for the use of Turkish equivalents of these new English loanwords. It also has the task of coining such words from existing Turkish roots if no such equivalents exist, and actively promoting the adoption of these new coinages instead of their English equivalents in the daily lives of the Turkish population.[citation needed] TDK claims it doesn't coin Turkish equivalent words for foreign words which are already rooted deep down in the language such as "kalem (pencil, pen [from Arabic]), kitap (book [from Arabic]), radyo (radio [from French]), televizyon (television [from French])" but recently borrowed words such as "computer (bilgisayar [lit. information counter]), icetea (buzlu çay [lit. tea with ice]), flash memory (taşınabilir bellek [lit. portable memory])".[14][15][16]
Turkey currently doesn't have a legal framework to enforce by law the recommendations of TDK in public life[14][15] (contrary toAcadémie française inFrance, for example). On the other hand, there is a bill that is in consideration in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey at the moment that would give TDK and the Ministries of Education and Culture the tools to enforce legally the labelling of Turkish equivalents of these words next to their foreign counterparts, particularly in the news media, advertising, and commercial communications.[citation needed][when?]
Several members of the TDK support the implementation of a pure Turkish for daily use.[17]: 134
In 1935 it published anOttoman Turkish/Pure Turkish dictionary to show the improvements of the language reform.[18] It publishesTürkçe Sözlük, the official Turkish dictionary,[19] andYazım Kılavuzu, the Turkish writing guide, in addition to many other specialized dictionaries, linguistics books and several periodicals.
The institution, in addition to maintainingGüncel Türkçe Sözlük has published more than 850 linguistics related books, mainly consisting of studies onTurkic languages, specialized dictionaries,philological books, and works ofliterature.
TDK also publishesTürk Dili, a journal on Turkish literature, since 1951,Belleten, the annual journal on Turkic languages, since 1953, andTürk Dünyası, another periodical published twice a year on Turkish language and literature since 1996.
The TDK allegedly changed the definition of the word "çapulcu" (plunderer) to "the one who acts deviant against the order, the one who ruins the order", afterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan used the word against demonstrators in theGezi Park protests, this has caused controversy. The change has been criticized stating that the TDK was unsuccessful in finding the relationship between the word and its root "çapul" (plunder) along with other synonyms such as "plaçkacı" and "yağmacı", both meaning "looter".[20] TDK rejected the claims that the word had been changed.[21]
Umumî Kâtip: Ruşen Eşref Bey [Secretary General: Mr. Ruşen Eşref]
İhtısas Kâtibi Aptülkadir Süleyman Bey [The head specialist Mr. Aptükadir Süleyman]
Kurum başuzmanı Abdülkadir İnan [Head specialist of the association Abdülkadir İnan]
Türk Dil Kurumu Garp Dilleri Başuzmanı A. DİLÂÇAR[Turkish Language Association Head Western Languages Specialist A. DİLÂÇAR]
| Overview |  | |
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| History and reform | ||
