Turkish Literature

With Thesis:  

• The total number of credits required to be taken for a Master's Degree: 21, ECTS: 63 + 8 + 60
• Number of must courses to be taken: 3 Courses
• Number of must courses to be taken: 4 Courses  

Electives *

* The courses opened within the framework of other Master's Degree programs in the Graduate School of Social Sciences may be taken subject to the approval of the respective advisor.  

COURSE CONTENTS  

MUST COURSES  

TDE 501 Turkish Language Studies
The different fields of Turkish language, historical development within the framework of dialects and other languages, classification of Turkish dialects, history of Turcology, place of the same within Altayistics, Turcology centers, nature of the research and studies conducted, and the different alphabets uses for the dialects spoken by Turks throughout the history will be covered.  

TDE 520 Scientific Research and Critical Publication Methods
In this course; the topics of scientific research and ethics will be covered, and research and authoring techniques will be lectured.   Such questions as what is manuscript, what is characterization of copies, how are texts published, and how is a text authored will be answered, and practical applications will be conducted on sample texts.  

TDE 521 Literature Theories
This course has been designed to provide the students with a comprehensive knowledge background for literary criticism on theoretical basis. Following an overview of the history of western literature, the literature streams, major types and certain major terms of literature; the modern literature and criticism theories and formalist, structuralist, Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic and post-structuralist approaches will be addressed and discussed. The texts to be read will include the works of Aristotle, Barthes, Benjamin, Eagleton, Escarpit, Freud, Genette, Jameson, Lukacs, Ong and Todorov.  

ELECTIVES

TDE 502 Comparative Historical Turkish Text Studies
The texts written in Orkhon, Yenisey, Uigur, Karakhanid, Khorezmian, Memlukian, Chagatai, Crimean, Armenian Qypchak, Old Anatolian and Ottoman Turkish dialects between the 8th century and the 20th century, which are extant, will be studied in the aspects of phonetics, morphology, syntax and semantics and be introduced, and the phases of Turkish language will be addressed and deliberated.  

TDE 503 Current Problems of Turkish Language
The basic problems of contemporary Turkish such as the current problems with Turkish grammar works and lexicography, adequacy of the alphabet, discussions on lexicalization of new words and terms, existence of words of foreign origin, and the impact on Turkish language of the Internet and technological developments, and the discussions and studies on the matter will be addressed and deliberated.

TDE 504 Texts in Old Anatolian Turkish
Prose and verse texts authorized in Old Anatolian Turkish will be read, and applied studies will be conducted on the texts read in the aspects of phonetics, morphology and syntax.

TDE 505 Turkish Dialects in Qypchak Group
The peoples of Qypchak origin in the history such as Golden Horde State people, the Cumans, the Memluks and their languages as well as the geographies, where Kazakhs, the Kyrgyz, Tatars, Bashkortostanians, Qaraqalpaqistanis, Kumyks, Noghai and Karachay-Balkar Turks currently live, the socio-cultural characteristics of those groups and peoples and the formation and the evolution of their languages as well as the phonetic and formal characteristics of the same as well as the differences among such languages in terms of grammar and lexicology will be studied and discussed, and applied reading, comprehension and analysis works will be performed on the basis of texts written in Arabic, Cyrillic and Latin letters.  

TDE 506 Turkish Dialects Spoken by Oghuz Group
The identity of the Oghuz, their history, transition of their language into becoming a written language and the prevailing circumstances as the time of such transition, the works authorized in combination of multiple languages, Turkic and foreign languages, with which Oghuz Turkish has interacted, and the characteristics of contemporary Turkish, Turkmen, Azerbaijani and Gagauzian will be studied and discussed, and reading practices will be performed.  

TDE 507 Dialectology Studies
Such topics as the definition of dialectoloji, dialectology research and studies in the world and in Turkey, the characteristics of the variety studies, the employed and proposed methods for the conduct of such studies, Compilation Dictionary and opinions regarding the same, archaic elements in Anatolian and Roumelian varieties, and the current state of dialectology studies since the Ottoman era will be studied and discussed.

TDE 508 Language Policies in Countries Where Turkic Languages Are Spoken
The regions, where written and spoken languages of the family of Turkic languages are situated, the number of persons speaking the same, the language policies regarding such languages and the problems at issue will be addressed, and the place of Turkic languages among the world languages will be addressed and discussed. At this point; the scope of the course will cover the linguistic contacts among the dialects and the Turkic dialects that face the danger of extinction.  

TDE 509 Comparative Grammar of Contemporary Turkic Dialects
The formation processes of Turkish dialects will be addressed in broad strokes along with the historical development, the attempts of characterization of Turkic dialects set forth according to various criteria will be assessed, and Turkic dialects will be studied in terms of phonetics, morphology, syntax and semantics through a comparative approach.

TDE 510 Literary Circles
In this course, the places where poets/authors come together as producers of literary products in the Ottoman Empire and where literary products are consumed will be introduced; the effects and contributions of these places to the productions of poets/authors will be questioned.

TDE 511 Research and Methods in Turkish Literature
In this course; such questions as what are science, non-science and popular science, and how and through what phases are a scientific paper and a scientific thesis prepared will be endeavored to be answered, and practical applications will be conducted on sample texts.  

TDE 512 Critical Publication Methods
In this course; such questions as what is manuscript, what is characterization of copies, how are texts published, and how is a text authored will be answered, and practical applications will be conducted on sample texts.  

TDE 513 Verse in Old Turkish Literature
In this course; the emergence and the reasons of development of Turkish verse (poetry) within the period between the early eras and the second half of the 19th century, being the last era, when works of Old Turkish Literature were authored, will be studied and discussed through a perspective based on the stylistic changes and by way of the interpretation of sample texts for each individual era.  

TDE 514 Prose in Old Turkish Literature
In this course; the emergence and the reasons of development of Turkish prose within the period between the early eras and the second half of the 19th century, being the last era, when works of Old Turkish Literature were authored, will be studied and discussed through a perspective based on the stylistic changes and by way of the interpretation of sample texts for each individual era.  

TDE 515 Biographies of Poets

In this course; the collections of biographies of poets, which are the most significant prose genre of Ottoman Divan literature, will be studied and discussed through a comparative perspective on the basis of sample texts for each century, and the aspects of the same that could serve as reference for the cultural and artistic life of the time will be addressed.  

TDE 516 Ottoman Cultural History
In this course; the materials, which can serve as reference for the social and cultural life of the Ottoman era, will be discussed on the basis of the genres and sample texts of Ottoman Divan literature.  

TDE 517 Comparative Classical Literature
In this course, within the scope of which the classical literary texts will be studied and discussed in comparison to the classical examples of Arabic ad Persian literatures; sample texts will be studied and discussed.  

TDE 518 Comparative Classical Persian and Turkish Literatures
In this course; the texts from Persian Literature, being one of the main sources of Classical Turkish Literature, and the texts from Classical Turkish Literature influenced by such texts will be studied and discussed through a comparative perspective.   A comparative study is aimed to be conducted among Sebk-i Hindi poets, specifically including Hafiz Divan and its annotations.  

TDE 519 Semantics
This class introduces basic tools needed for semantic analysis at an introductory level. The class focuses on the difference between reference and sense, and the nature of linguistic meaning as well as the semantic denotation of proper and common names. The class will introduce the set-theoretic analysis of connectives and quantifiers in natural languages.

TDE 522 History of New Turkish Literature with Texts
In this course; “Münâcât” by Şinasi as well as the encomiums written by the same for Reşid Pasha, “Hürriyet Kasidesi” and “Vâveyla” as well as the article, titled “Lis’an-ı Osmanî’nin Edebiyatı Hakkında Bazı Mülâhazâtı Şâmildir”, by Namık Kemal ; “Terci-i Bend”, the article, titled “Şiir ve İnşa” and certain sections of the work in verse form, titled “Harâbât”, by Ziya Pasha, “Adem Kasidesi” by Âkif Pasha, the poem, titled “On Dokuzuncu Asır” manzumesi”, by Sadullah Pasha, “Makber Mukaddimesi” as well as “Külbe-i İştiyak” and “Bir Şâirin Hezeyânı” by Abdülhak Hâmid are studied and analyzed in line with the other political, social and natural problems of the time.  

TDE 523 Literary Arguments from the Era of Imperial Edict of Gulhane to Present
The genres of literary criticism and essay, which emerged in Turkish literature during the era of Imperial Edict of Gulhane, further improved during the era of Servet-i Fünun (the Wealth of Sciences), and further expanded upon the adoption of novel methods after the proclamation of the Republic. The major literary arguments until the present day, the first of which was an argument between Şinasi and Said Pasha about the linguistic mistakes in 1862, could be pursued within a chronological sequence.   In this course, within the scope of which the development of literary criticism in Turkey from the Ottoman era to the present day will be studied and discussed through a critical perspective; the text to be studied will be selected from the works of such writers as Namık Kemal, Ziya Pasha, Nurullah Ataç, Tanpınar, Uşaklıgil, Hüseyin Cöntürl, Moran, Parla and Nurdan Gürbilek.  

TDE 524 Literature in the Era of Imperial Edict of Gulhane
This course, which will cover the basic changes in Turkish literature throughout the period between the era of Imperial Edict of Gulhane and the foundation of the Republic, will study and discuss the emergence and development of the genres of novel, essay, poem, drama play and critic (review). The topics to be studied will be the conflict between the old and the new, the place of literature in the society and arguments about literariness, the social impacts on the literature of the time etc.   The texts to be reads include the major works of prominent writers and poets as well the secondary references such as XIX. Asır Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi by A. H. Tanpınar.  

TDE 525 Turkish Literature in the Republican Period
This course will study and discuss the major developments in Turkish literature from the era of the foundation of the Republic to the present time.   Major literary movements and the basic changes in certain genres (especially poetry, drama play, short story, novel and critic) will be studied through the texts that constitute the turning points of Turkish literature in the 20th century.   The literary assessment of the history of literature of the time is also an objective of the course.  

TDE 526 Modern Turkish Poetry
This course will, following a brief overview of the process of change of Turkish poetry from the era of Imperial Edict of Gulhane to the era of the Republic, study and discuss the poetry movements, the changing ideological and aesthetic approaches since 1923 to the present day and the relations of poetry with the Republican enlightenment throughout the 20th century.   The literary theories will also be studied and the development of contemporary poetry will be deliberated through a critical perspective.  

TDE 527 Turkish Novel
In this course; the social, psychological and aesthetic aspects of Turkish novel since its emergence in the second half of the 19th century until the present day will be studied.   The topics to be covered include the relation of the early novels with the traditional narratives, the social notations of novels, the formal changes in the tradition of novel writing and critical approaches to certain major novels.   The texts to be read will include examples of historical novels, philosophical novels, sociological novels, novels about rural life, novels about the nature and modernist novels as well as critical reviews.  

TDE 528 Literary Journals in New Turkish Literature
It is observed that, in the new Turkish literature, the literary groups are usually observed to gather around a journal.   The new Turkish literary scene has witnessed numerous literary journals and periodicals such as Malûmat, Genç Kalemler, Dergâh, Hayat, Türk Yurdu, Yeni Mecmua, Kadro, Varlık, Büyük Doğu, Diriliş, Yeni Dergi and Papirüs since Servet-i Fünun, published by Servet-i Fünun group.   In this course; the literary journals and periodicals, which contributed to the formation of a literary movement in Turkish literary, will be reviewed.

TDE 529 Essays, Letters, Memoirs, Interviews, Drama Plays in Turkish Literature
In Turkish literature; remarkable works have been created so far in the genres of letter, memoir and interview, which emerged following the era of Imperial Edict of Gulhane. There are numerous examples of works in the said genres, expanding in a long period of time that began with the letters of Namık Kemal and the memoirs of Abdülhak Hamid, and continued with the letters and memoirs of Tanpıner, Mehmet Kaplan and Orhan Okay as well as the literary interviews of Ruşen Eşref, compiled in the book, titled Diyorlar ki .   In this course, the most well-known examples of the mentioned genres will be studied and discussed.  

TDE 535 Turkish Folk Literature Research Studies
In this course; the topics related to the basic fields of research of Turkish folk literature through a comparative approach on the basis of the data from the Turkic World and the other countries and different methods and approaches. The main objective and scope of this course are the discussion and analysis of various methodological and theoretical issues, which become evident within the scope of the anonymous fold literature, minstrel literature and lodge and sufi literature, being the components of Turkish folk literature, on the basis of context-, performance-, representative-, function- and product-oriented approaches and through different perspectives.  

TDE 536 Folklore of Turkish World
The folk literatures of contemporary Turcic peoples, their traditions and customs, the studies conducted about the folklore of the Turcic world since the works of Kaşgarlı Mahmud, the common folklorik figures of Turcic world such as Nasreddin Hodja, Köroğlu, Dede Qorqut and Manas, the similarities, the differences, the epics, the proverbs, tales and myths will be studied and discussed.

TDE 537 Syntactic Analysis
This class introduces basic tools of syntactic analysis including X-bar Theory, Case Theory, Control Theory, Government Theory, Binding Theory and Movement Theory. The students are expected to apply these ideas into the analysis of the linguistic properties of Turkish.

TDE 538 Linguistic Turcology
In this class, we shall take a closer look at major issues in Turcology and analyze them with the lens of the contemporary linguistics theory. We shall introduce various approaches and theories about the linguistic analyses of Turkish.

TDE 539 Structure of Turkish
This class analyzes syntactic properties of modern Turkish in the light of various linguistic theories. The class aim to understand the nature of the analytical differences between different theories and the empirical consequences of these differences.

TDE 540 Applied Linguistics
This class is concerned with linguistic abilities (including, but not limited to, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills), second language acquisition and teaching, bilingualism, multilingualism, discourse analysis, language planning and politics, translation as well as text interpretation.

TDE 550 Self’s Text in Literature
In this course, the methods and fictional techniques encountered in self’s text in literature will be taught and examined; autobiographical texts will be selected and analyzed.