Merhaba! The Ottoman and Turkish Studies Program at Harvard University offers Turkish and Ottoman language courses at all levels, as well as other courses on Turkish culture and literature. All language courses of the program are open as electives to students from all faculties. Students completing four half-courses of Turkish language courses beyond the first-year level and/or half-courses taught primarily in Turkish can receive printed citations along with their diplomas. To learn more on Citations in Foreign Languages click here .
An undergraduate degree in the Turkish program may be obtained in combination with other programs. Undergraduate students with advanced standing have the option of applying for a joint A.B./A.M. degree. All concentrators must complete at least four semesters of a departmental language. To further this goal, as well as to provide prolonged exposure to the civilizations of the region, the Department encourages a junior year abroad in Turkey, provided that course work completed abroad falls within the concentration and is approved by the student's advisor.
Turkey Turkish, a member of the Turkic subdivision of the Altaic language family and the successor of Ottoman-Turkish, is a so-called agglutinative language. That is, several suffixes can be attached to words and some words may have meanings that would correspond to long sentences in English. Hence, putting the suffixes into the right order is one of the difficulties for learners. The good news: There is neither gender nor definite articles in Turkish! An English speaker would be able to recognize a remarkable number of words borrowed from French and English. Another characteristic of Turkish is its vowel harmony. Generally, the vowels of a word must be either back or front, and the vowels of suffixes attached to them usually adjust themselves.
Ottoman Turkish was written with the Arabic script. Changing the Arabic script was a much discussed issue in the second half of the 19th century. The change to the Latin alphabet came in 1928 along with many other reforms in Turkey.
Today, the standard high Turkish is referred to as Istanbul Türkçesi, or, Istanbul Turkish. Turkish is spoken by the natives of Turkey as a mother tongue (~60 million people), and a significant number of Turks living outside of Turkey (Cyprus, Balkans, Europe). Other modern Turkic languages have many common features with Turkey Turkish, be it in grammar or lexically. Especially Gagauz (spoken in Moldova), Azeri (spoken in Azerbaijan), and Turkmen (spoken in Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan) are close to Turkey Turkish. The mastery of Turkey Turkish is certainly a key to learning other Turkic languages as well.
Basic Turkish is a two-year program that comprises Elementary Turkish (a full-year course; indivisible for credit) and Intermediate Turkish 120a (Fall) and 120b (Spring). To attend intermediate Turkish students have to successfully complete Elementary Turkish or equivalent, this is also the minimum requirement to be admitted to Ottoman 140 courses.
Turkish A. Elementary Modern Turkish
Catalog Number: 2527
Hakan T. Karateke
Full course (indivisible). M. through F., at 9. EXAM GROUP: 2, 11
Emphasis on all aspects of Turkish grammar toward developing a solid foundation for speaking, listening, reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Turkish 120a. Intermediate Turkish I
Catalog Number: 4009
Hakan T. Karateke
Half course (fall term). M. through Th., at 10. EXAM GROUP: 3, 12
Emphasis on complex sentence structure and building communicative competence in describing events and expressing ideas through exercises in reading, writing, and speaking.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish A or equivalent.
Turkish 120b. Intermediate Turkish II
Catalog Number: 1394
Hakan T. Karateke
Half course (spring term). M., Tu., Th., F., at 10. EXAM GROUP: 3, 12
Studies in argumentative and literary prose.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 120a or equivalent.
Turkish 125a. Intermediate Uzbek I
Catalog Number: 2947
Dalia Yasharpour and assistant Half course (fall term).
Hours to be arranged.
Continuation of Elementary Uzbek with an emphasis on further development of both conversational and literary Uzbek.
Prerequisite: Turkish 121b or equivalent.
Turkish 125b. Intermediate Uzbek II
Catalog Number: 0125
Dalia Yasharpour and assistant Half course (spring term).
Hours to be arranged.
A continuation of Turkish 125a.
Prerequisite: Turkish 125a or equivalent.
Turkish 130a. Advanced Turkish I
Catalog Number: 6964
Hakan T. Karateke
Half course (fall term). W., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7, 8
Gaining and improving advanced language skills in Modern Turkish through reading, writing, listening, and speaking with special emphasis on the proper usage of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 120b or equivalent.
Turkish 130b. Advanced Turkish II
Catalog Number: 4354
Hakan T. Karateke
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
Studies in literary and idiomatic prose through readings, discussions, and writing of short analytical papers.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 130a or equivalent.
[Turkish 140a. Introduction to Ottoman Turkish I]
Catalog Number: 8163
Helga Anetshofer Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Introduction to basic orthographic conventions and grammatical characteristics of Ottoman Turkish through readings in printed selections from the 19th and 20th centuries, and exercises on techniques.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08. Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish A or equivalent; one year of Arabic or Persian desirable.
Turkish 140b. Introduction to Ottoman Turkish II
Catalog Number: 8298
Helga Anetshofer
Half course (fall term). Th., at 11, Tu., 11–1. EXAM GROUP: 13, 14
Continuation of Turkish 140a. Exercises on specialized orthographic conventions and grammatical characteristics of Ottoman Turkish through readings in printed selections from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 140a or equivalent.
[Turkish 141. Ottoman Biographical Dictionaries]
Catalog Number: 3234
Hakan T. Karateke
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
This seminar investigates the rich tradition of Ottoman biographical dictionaries from the beginning to the end of 19th century. Biographical dictionaries listing scholars, masters of religious orders, poets, and others will be read from primary sources and explored.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08. Prerequisite: Knowledge of Ottoman Turkish.
[Turkish 143. Ottoman Turkish: The Story of a Language] - (New Course) Catalog Number: 6099
Hakan T. Karateke
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
This course will explore the evolution of the Ottoman Turkish language in all its aspects. Topics to be covered include: the linguistic development of Ottoman Turkish, historical, cultural, and political views of, and the debate surrounding the language, and the self-perception of speakers. We will start with readings from the Old Anatolian Turkish period in the 14th century and end with the language reforms of the 1920s. Texts primarily in Ottoman Turkish, with supplementary readings.
Note: Expected to be given in 2007–08. Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Knowledge of Ottoman Turkish.
Turkish 144. Introduction to Ottoman Epigraphy - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 0886
Helga Anetshofer
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
The course investigates the basic conventions and development of Ottoman epigraphy. Several sorts of inscriptions will be covered in the course, such as dedication plates, epitaphs, etc.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 140b or equivalent.
Turkish 145. Introduction to Old Anatolian Turkish - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 0095
Helga Anetshofer
Half course (fall term). M., 12–2, Th., at 1. EXAM GROUP: 5, 6, 15
Grammatical, orthographic, and stylistic characteristics of Old Anatolian Turkish through reading and analysis of selected primary sources from the 13th to the 15th centuries.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 140a or equivalent.
Turkish 146. Readings in Old Anatolian Turkish Narrative Prose - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 6628
Helga Anetshofer
Half course (spring term).
Hours to be arranged.
Specialized grammatical and orthographic characteristics of Old Anatolian Turkish narrative prose through reading of different genres of handwritten documents from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 140b or equivalent.
Primarily for Graduates
Turkish 240. Readings in Ottoman Sources
Catalog Number: 2180
Helga Anetshofer
Half course (spring term). M., 12–2, Th., at 1. EXAM GROUP: 5, 6, 15
Philological analysis of handwritten documents from the 13th to the 18th century in photocopies. Analysis of textual styles of different genres.
Note: Not open to auditors.
Prerequisite: Turkish 140b or equivalent.
Graduate Courses of Reading and Research
*Turkish 300. Turkish Languages and Literatures
Catalog Number: 7702
Copyright © 2009 The President and Fellows of Harvard College
