Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Turkish language
open-in-new
<p>Turkish (<i>Türkçe</i> [ˈtyɾctʃe], <i>Türk dili</i>, also known as <i>Türkiye Türkçesi</i> 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the <a href="/facts/Turkic_languages/RXqsmfgh">Turkic languages</a>, a member of <a href="/facts/Oghuz_languages/pvQk67uf">Oghuz branch</a> with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of <a href="/facts/Turkey/KIYAWAs0">Turkey</a> and one of two official languages of <a href="/facts/Cyprus/t9wL6lVK">Cyprus</a>. Significant smaller groups of Turkish speakers also exist in <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">Germany</a>, <a href="/facts/Austria/4qWIMIyc">Austria</a>, <a href="/facts/Bulgaria/Er5pY3YS">Bulgaria</a>, <a href="/facts/North_Macedonia/YpfcC5DA">North Macedonia</a>, <a href="/facts/Greece/lqHw8bTB">Greece</a>, other parts of <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a>, the <a href="/facts/South_Caucasus/MQaTkhRJ">South Caucasus</a>, and some parts of <a href="/facts/Central_Asia/rB8k0CyT">Central Asia</a>, <a href="/facts/Iraqi_Turkmen/Pb7tW5uB">Iraq</a>, and <a href="/facts/Syrian_Turkmen/U3d4nzuh">Syria</a>. Turkish is the <a href="/facts/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers/oSMoLVVa">18th-most spoken language</a> in the world. </p><p>To the west, the influence of <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Turkish_language/z17YMfhT">Ottoman Turkish</a>—the variety of the Turkish language that was used as the administrative and literary language of the <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Empire/6QvfTRsg">Ottoman Empire</a>—spread as the Ottoman Empire expanded. In 1928, as one of <a href="/facts/Atat%25C3%25BCrk%2527s_reforms/kR518f4R">Atatürk's reforms</a> in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, the <a href="/facts/Persian_alphabet/4DvPdTDe">Perso-Arabic script</a>-based <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Turkish_alphabet/UzI1YVA1">Ottoman Turkish alphabet</a> was replaced with the <a href="/facts/Latin_script/7EWeJjUV">Latin script</a>-based <a href="/facts/Turkish_alphabet/Skpn0bkK">Turkish alphabet</a>. </p><p>Some distinctive characteristics of the Turkish language are <a href="/facts/Vowel_harmony/oQfPrTWV">vowel harmony</a> and extensive <a href="/facts/Agglutination/pKEhqgRE">agglutination</a>. The basic word order of Turkish is <a href="/facts/Subject%25E2%2580%2593object%25E2%2580%2593verb/yqAybkWr">subject–object–verb</a>. Turkish has no <a href="/facts/Noun_class/x2BzW8YT">noun classes</a> or <a href="/facts/Grammatical_gender/2hEshpnP">grammatical gender</a>. The language makes usage of <a href="/facts/Honorific/WccpCNyE">honorifics</a> and has a strong <a href="/facts/T%25E2%2580%2593V_distinction/tGrS3EDC">T–V distinction</a> which distinguishes varying levels of politeness, <a href="/facts/Social_distance/L8U2kHrM">social distance</a>, age, courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural second-person pronoun and verb forms are used referring to a single person out of respect. </p>