Struggling against language shift: Kurdish language education in Turkey
Struggling against language shift: Kurdish language education in Turkey
Author(s): Anu LeinonenSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Civil Society, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Language policy; language-in-education; Kurdish; civil society; reversing language shift;
Summary/Abstract: This article, largely based on interviews with language activists, investigates Kurdish language-in-education policy in Turkey since the early 2000s. It attempts to answer the following questions: How has Kurdish language education developed in Turkey from 2004 to 2020? What has been the impact of the educational activities on reversing the language shift from Kurdish to Turkish? I argue that the most important contribution has been on the elite or academic level with a widening of the Kurdish-reading and writing elite. Yet, the language shift from Kurdish to Turkish continues.
Journal: Kurdish Studies
- Issue Year: 10/2022
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 19-37
- Page Count: 19
- Language: English