Official Language in a Surviving Ottoman Empire?

CthulhuFhtagn

Banned
Assuming the Ottoman Empire makes it past the early 20th century, it's going to have to figure this out. So, with an empire that includes the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East (without Egypt), Anatolia, and Thrace, would the Ottomans use Turkish or Arabic as their official language?
 

The Ubbergeek

Ottoman Turkish form probably; from what I heard, the modern turkey turkish is a kind of 'purified' form like the Demotic VS... Katoska? debate that was in modern Greece, with less Arabic influence and all.

Not sure if 'dialect' is a right word, but I would guess the official turkish form would still be the Ottoman classical, with neologisms added later on for new ideas, techs, etc...

Not that much different from OTL.
 
Oracle of Sobek 𓆋

Oracle of Sobek 𓆋

Depending on what sort of Ottoman Empire we're talking about, there may be several official languages (Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Bulgarian, Albanian, Armenian, Serbian, Bosnian, etc.)...
 
Hrvatskiwi

Hrvatskiwi

I imagine with the CUP still in power, it will probably be a form of latinised Turkish like OTL instead of Ottoman Turkish. Ottoman Turkish was complicated, lacked a script properly suited to it and was associated with the upper classes. The Anatolian peasantry didn't speak OTTOMAN Turkish.
 

funnyhat

Interesting question. Turkish is obviously the language of the capital region but Arabic is the holy language of Islam, and the Ottoman Empire is not only an Islamic state but the "Guardian of the Two Holy Mosques". The Sultan considered himself to the Islamic Caliph, successor to Mohammed. Maybe joint official languages?

I wonder if Turkish would have never adopted the Latin script as well, since that was one of Atatürk's reforms.
 

SlideAway

If it is Turkish, what parts of the Empire could have become predominantly Turkish-speaking by today? Would Syria and the Levant have been Turkish speaking by now, or at least with widespread use as a second language? (Unlike regions farther south, the Levant was something of a core Ottoman territory, highly integrated economically, socially, and culturally with Anatolia). Moreover, most Syrians wouldn't at the time have considered themselves "Arab."
 

CthulhuFhtagn

Banned
Given the extremely different dialects of Arabic*, is it possible that Ottoman Turkish could become the lingua franca of the entire empire, with native Arabic speakers learning it as a means to communicate with one another?


*I have one friend from Syria and one from Morocco, and they can't understand one another when using their native languages, despite the fact that both speak "Arabic".
 

OldNavy1988

I think if the Ottoman Empire were still here today, it would be multilingual, with Turkish and Arabic tied for first place as the dominant language.
 

bm79

CthulhuFhtagn said:
Given the extremely different dialects of Arabic*, is it possible that Ottoman Turkish could become the lingua franca of the entire empire, with native Arabic speakers learning it as a means to communicate with one another?


*I have one friend from Syria and one from Morocco, and they can't understand one another when using their native languages, despite the fact that both speak "Arabic".
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The Arabic dialects in a surviving OE aren't as divergent from each other as Maghrebi Arabic is from "standard." Hundreds of years of links between France and North Africa has led to a massive French influence in everyday spoken Arabic in that region
 

Wendell

I think Abdulhamid II had considered changing the language of the State to Arabic, but at the time, with the nationalisms i Europe, it would have cost the Empire more of Europe sooner.
 

The Ubbergeek

Wendell said:
I think Abdulhamid II had considered changing the language of the State to Arabic, but at the time, with the nationalisms i Europe, it would have cost the Empire more of Europe sooner.
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The problem is also that even if the empire survive, Turkish nationalism was on the rise as far I know - not sure what would happens then on this aspect.
 

Falecius

Hrvatskiwi said:
I imagine with the CUP still in power, it will probably be a form of latinised Turkish like OTL instead of Ottoman Turkish. Ottoman Turkish was complicated, lacked a script properly suited to it and was associated with the upper classes. The Anatolian peasantry didn't speak OTTOMAN Turkish.
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I don't think that anyone gave much of a damn about whatever the Anatolian peasantry did. I gather that the CUP was more concerned with what the Turkish nomadic cavalry had done a few centuries earlier.
I don't think they'd go for Latinization without the shocks of defeat and fall of the Empire, but language reform to make the official language more "Turkish" was already discussed and would probably go ahead.
 

Falecius

SlideAway said:
If it is Turkish, what parts of the Empire could have become predominantly Turkish-speaking by today? Would Syria and the Levant have been Turkish speaking by now, or at least with widespread use as a second language? (Unlike regions farther south, the Levant was something of a core Ottoman territory, highly integrated economically, socially, and culturally with Anatolia). Moreover, most Syrians wouldn't at the time have considered themselves "Arab."
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The prestige associated with Arabic is probably too strong to create a significant change. Some marginal areas may shift in Northern Syria and Northern Iraq, but I think that's about it.
 
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