REMARKS ON DIALECTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BEYDİLİ TRIBE

Abstract

In the face of studies on Turkey Turkish dialects have reached a great volume, there are few studies about determining a clan’s or a tribe’s dialectical characteristics. This case, is a significant deficiency for dialectology. When the literature is reviewed, it is seen that the studies on the subject are on Avşar, Kınık, Salur and Çepni tribes. There is only one study about Beydili clan, which is a folk song compilation. In this paper, the dialect features thought to belong to the Beydili tribe will be focused on by using the project named Arpaçbahşiş Town (Mersin-Erdemli) Boynuinceli Nomads Dialect. Boynuinceliler, who live in various places of Anatolia today, is a part of Boz-Ulus and member of Beydili clan. Tribes affiliated to Beydili, today live in cities as Ankara, Ağrı, Erzincan, Karaman, Kırşehir, Mersin. Boynuinceli nomads on the other hand set in groups in Cyprus, Karaman, Kırşehir, Nevşehir and Mersin. One of the places where one of these troops lives is Arpaçbahşiş small town of Erdemli. It cannot be said that dialectical characteristics of Boynuinceliler reflects exactly their appertained Beydili clan. However, it is likely that this clan bears traces of dominant linguistic specialties of the entire tribe appertained. Therefore, those widespread characteristics in Boynuinceliler are thought to be the characteristics of Beydili dialect: existence of closed e vowel and nasal n, ġ-ḳ-ŋ vowels tendency to break linguistic harmony, prevalence of ç>ş and ḳ>h alterations inside and at the end of word, practicality of archaic ma/me, oḳ/ök, +ḳına/+kine, use of -IḲ as suffix for reported past tense and vowel length due to consonant drop of this suffix.