The Importance of Dialectology Studies in Regards to Turkish Teaching

Abstract

Turkish language, which is among the Ural-Altaic Languages and spoken by approximately 220 million people in an area of 12 million m2 , is one of the oldest and richest languages in the world. Turkish has been used by many people in various geographic areas as a language of communication, science, and art. In this context, the emergence of dialects and accents are signs of development and richness of Turkish. Many individual works have been published on history of Turkish and its modern dialects and accents by this time. Especially, it is also known that many other estimable works have been published on teaching of Turkish in recent years. However, researchers have not put emphasis on the role and importance of accents and dialectology studies. Additionally, it has not been taken the advantage of dialectology studies in the education and teaching of Turkish. The reasons of this situation are Turkish education researchers' and teachers' neglect on linguistics, grammar, and Turkish accents, which are out of their field of studies. In this regard, it can be said that these educators' and researchers' lack of knowledge in regards to dialectology and accents has an important role. This paper presents information on the role and importance of accents and linguistic studies on teaching of Turkish language.