Knowra Turkish language reform Turkish language reform A twentieth-century campaign led by the Turkish Republic to replace much Ottoman Turkish vocabulary, change the writing system, and promote a standardized national language.
Turkish alphabet reform : Turkey’s 1928 replacement of the Arabic-based Ottoman script with a Latin-based alphabet adapted for Turkish. Its rapid adoption made the reform visible in schools, newspapers, and public administration.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk : The founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, who led its early secularizing and modernizing reforms. Atatürk made language change a state-led project and championed the new alphabet.
Ziya Gökalp : A Turkish sociologist and poet whose ideas influenced early twentieth-century Turkish nationalism and language policy. His call to simplify literary Turkish anticipated several goals later adopted by the republic.
Literacy in Turkey : The ability to read and write among people in Turkey, measured across historical periods and social groups. The alphabet change accompanied mass education, though its separate effect on literacy remains debated.
Turkish Language Association : A Turkish institution founded in 1932 to study and standardize the Turkish language. It organized vocabulary research and promoted alternatives to Arabic and Persian loanwords.
Republic of Turkey : A sovereign state founded in 1923 after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Its institutions gave the reform the authority and reach of national policy.
Şemsettin Sami : An Ottoman Albanian writer and lexicographer known for influential works on Turkish language and literature. His scholarship belongs to the pre-republican effort to define and document Turkish.
Turkish vocabulary : The set of words used in Turkish, including inherited Turkic words and borrowings from other languages. State-backed word creation and replacement changed the vocabulary available in formal and public contexts.
Language planning : Deliberate efforts by institutions to shape a language’s status, form, or use. The campaign combined script change, vocabulary policy, and national language standardization.
Young Turk Revolution : The 1908 revolution that restored constitutional government in the Ottoman Empire. Its debates about identity and modernization preceded republican language policy.
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