Sun Language Theory

The Sun Language Theory (Turkish: Güneş Dil Teorisi) was a linguistic theory proposing that all human languages are descendants of one Central Asian primal language. The theory further proposed that the only language remaining more or less the same as this primal language is Turkish. According to the theory, the Central Asian worshippers, who wanted to salute the omnipotence of the sun and its life-giving qualities, had done so by transforming their meaningless blabbering into a coherent set of ritual utterings, and languages were born, hence the name.^[1]

The hypothesis was started with the works by the French scientist Hilaire de Baranton entitled "L'Origine des Langues, des Religions et des Peuples", that all languages originated from hieroglyphs and cuneiform used by Sumerians^[2] and the paper of Austrian linguist Dr. Hermann F. Kvergić of Vienna entitled "La psychologie de quelques elements des langues Turques" ["the psychology of some elements of the Turkic Languages"].^[3]

Once these works came to the attention of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he introduced the Sun Language Theory into Turkish political and educational circles in 1935, at the high point of attempts to 'cleanse' the Turkish language of foreign influences. It fell into final oblivion in the 1950s.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ Aytürk (2004)
^ “Turks Teach New Theories”, The New York Times (Istanbul), 1936-02-09
^ Laut (2002)

[edit] References

Arkman, Ceren (2006). "The Launching of the Turkish Thesis of History: A Close Textual Analysis" (PDF). M.A. Thesis. . Sabanci University Retrieved on 2007-12-05.

Aydingün, Ayşegül; and İsmail Aydingün (2004). "The Role of Language in the Formation of Turkish National Identity and Turkishness". Nationalism & Ethnic Politics 10 (3): pp.415–432. London: Frank Cass & Co (Routledge). doi:10.1080/13537110490518264. ISSN 1353-7113. OCLC 86549020.

Aytürk, İlker (November 2004). "Turkish Linguists against the West: The Origins of Linguistic Nationalism in Atatürk's Turkey". Middle Eastern Studies 40 (6): pp.1–25. London: Frank Cass & Co (Routledge). doi:10.1080/0026320042000282856. ISSN 0026-3206. OCLC 86539631.

Dilaçar, Agop (1936). Les bases Bio-Psychologiques de la Théorie Güneş Dil. Istanbul: Fazilet Basimevi. OCLC 162658746. (French) (Turkish)

Karpat, Kemal H. (2004). Studies on Turkish Politics and Society: Selected Articles and Essays, Social, Economic, and Political Studies of the Middle East, vol. 94. Leiden, Netherlands and Boston, MA: Brill. ISBN 90-04-13322-4. OCLC 52334897.

Kıbrıs, Güldeniz (2005). "Creating Turkishness: An Examination of Turkish Nationalism Through Gök-Börü" (PDF). M.A. Thesis. . Sabanci University Retrieved on 2007-12-05.

Laut, Jens Peter (2002). "Noch einmal zu Dr. Kvergić" (PDF reprinted online). Turkic Languages 6: pp.120–133. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISSN 1431-4983. OCLC 37421320. (German)

Lewis, Geoffrey (1999). The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-198-23856-8. OCLC 41137543.

Poulton, Hugh (1997). Top Hat, Grey Wolf and Crescent: Turkish Nationalism and the Turkish Republic. London: C. Hurst & Co.. ISBN 1-85065-326-7. OCLC 37787056.

Shaw, Wendy M.K. (2004). "Whose Hittites, and Why? Language, Archaeology, and the Quest for the Original Turks", in Michael L. Galaty and Charles Watkinson (eds.): Archaeology Under Dictatorship. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, pp.131–154. ISBN 0-306-48508-7. OCLC 54685395.

Webster, Donald Everett (1939). The Turkey of Atatürk: Social Process in the Turkish Reformation. Philadelphia, PA: American Academy of Political and Social Science. OCLC 404655.

1936 Sun Language Commission's Report (in Turkish and French)