THE CONTRIBUTION OF ÖMER SEYFETTİN TO THE STANDARDIZATION OF THE TURKISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

The paper explores the views of Turkish writer Ömer Seyfettin (1884-1920) on the standardization of the Turkish language, which was of the highest national and cultural significance for the Turkish nation at the beginning of the 20th century. Ömer Seyfettin is one of the founders of the Turkish short story, a prominent representative of the National literature era (1911-1923), a fighter for the "new language", ie. the Turkish language cleansed of Arabic and Persian constructions and words and basically spoken and comprehensible to all. Ömer Seyfettin takes a prominent place as a story teller who selected the topics, messages and, above all, the simple Turkish language to awaken Turkish national consciousness, pointed to moral values ​​and sought to affirm national ideals. In addition to his stories, a very important part of his work is composed of numerous essays and newspaper articles devoted to language issues. Despite his young age, Ömer Seyfettin demonstrates great erudition and language competence that, with a convincing and flowing style, make his artıcles an interesting and inspiring source for exploring the roads and paths of a recent history of the Turkish language. Deeply aware that "every nation lives in its own language," Ömer Seyfettin argued the fundamental language reform, the rejection of an elite, reputed and unnatural so-called " Ottoman Turkish language and the establishment of Istanbul's Turkish language as a standard that is understandable to the entire Turkish world from Bosphorus to China.