Netherlands: Dutchified Turkish

Turks who live in the Netherlands use sentence constructions different than those of Turks who live in Turkey. The deviations are done especially in the spoken language and then especially in set phrases.

That is the conclusion of A. Seza Dogruöz, who will get her doctor's degree from the University of Tilburg on Wednesday, for a study of language change. According to her, Turks in Turkey can hear if a countryman lives in the Netherlands. For example, Dutch Turks use the construction "tren almak" for 'taking the train', a literal translation from the Dutch, while in Turkey they would say 'trene binmek' (lit. getting on the train).

According to Dogruöz this is the first time the spoken Turkish was collected and documented in a systematic manner. She studied language changes on the basis of taped conversation that she later wrote out. The changes are especially noticeable in the usage of personal pronouns, and she says that contrary to expectations there were barely any changes in abstract grammar.

Dogruöz expects that the Dutchifying of spoken Turkish will continue as the Dutch Turks have less contact with the motherland.

Source: BN DeStem (Dutch)

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