An Ottoman lesson for the teaching of writing in additional languages: historical and personal perspectives
Abstract
Even from ancient times, one can infer second
language teaching, but by the 16th century, an institution for the
teaching of Turkish, Farsi and Arabic as second languages for the ruling class
of the Ottoman Empire had formed. Nearly all the Empire’s rulers learned those
three languages as additional languages because none were Turk, Fars or Arab.
The only few exceptions were members of the imperial Ottoman family. The ruling
class called the seyfiye, as opposed
to the learned class called the ‘ilmiye,
were drafted through the “devshirme”, a levy of Christian boys. They were sent
to Anatolian families to learn Turkish. Those who excelled were sent to the
palace school where, among other subjects, they studied Ottoman Turkish, Farsi
(i.e., Neo-Persian) and classical Arabic as additional languages. These three
languages were used by the state bureaucracy. In one or all of the three
languages, the sultans, viziers (ministers), pashas (military leaders), beys
(governors) and secretaries in the bureaus in the capital and provinces not
only read them, but they also wrote them in the course of their state duties.
They also composed poetry and prose in the additional languages. How they achieved such mastery in writing
those additional languages is the object of this study. The method of learning
good writing of additional languages was basically the reading and copying of
good models. That may well be a more appropriate method than the further,
willy-nilly appropriation of the lingo of the smart phone for better and finer
written communication.
Keywords
Kaynakça
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Ayrıntılar
Birincil Dil
İngilizce
Konular
-
Bölüm
Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar
Davut Peaci
*
Bu kişi benim
0000-0003-4686-8027
Türkiye
İrfan Tosuncuoğlu
0000-0002-0213-3574
Türkiye
Yayımlanma Tarihi
30 Aralık 2018
Gönderilme Tarihi
9 Kasım 2018
Kabul Tarihi
22 Aralık 2018
Yayımlandığı Sayı
Yıl 2018 Sayı: 13
Cited By
Writing evaluation in university English preparatory programs: Two universities of Turkey and Saudi Arabia
Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi
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https://doi.org/10.30622/tarr.1020094