Sun Language Theory
Encyclopedia
The Sun Language Theory was a pseudoscientific linguistic
hypothesis proposing that all human language
s are descendants of one Central Asian primal language. The theory further proposed that the only language remaining more or less the same as this primal language was Turkic. The theory proposed that because this primal language had close phonemic resemblances to Turkic, all other languages can essentially be traced back to Turkic roots. According to the theory, the Central Asian worshippers, who wanted to salute the omnipotence of the sun and its life-giving qualities, had done so by transforming their meaningless blabbering into a coherent set of ritual utterings, and language was born, hence the name.
historian Hilaire de Barenton
entitled "L'Origine des Langues, des Religions et des Peuples", that all languages originated from hieroglyphs and cuneiform
used by Sumerians and the paper of Austria
n linguist Dr. Hermann F. Kvergić of Vienna
entitled "La psychologie de quelques elements des langues Turques" ("The Psychology of Some Elements of the Turkic Languages
") and was given official backing and material support by the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
.
article on the curriculum of the newly opened School of Language, History and Geography of Ankara University
:
In short, based upon a helio-centric view of the origin of civilization and human languages, the theory claimed that the Turkish language was the language which all civilized languages derived from.
Some of the words provided with false Turkish etymologies through the practice of goropism were school, which was attributed to the Turkish word okul (school); God, attributed to the Turkish kut (luck); Bulletin from belleten (to learn by heart); Electric from Uyghur
yaltrık (shine); and philosophy.
According to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, "it is possible that the Sun Language Theory was adopted by Atatürk
in order to legitimize the Arabic and Persian words which the Turkish language authorities did not manage to uproot. This move compensated for the failure to provide a neologism for every foreignism/loanword."
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
hypothesis proposing that all human language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s are descendants of one Central Asian primal language. The theory further proposed that the only language remaining more or less the same as this primal language was Turkic. The theory proposed that because this primal language had close phonemic resemblances to Turkic, all other languages can essentially be traced back to Turkic roots. According to the theory, the Central Asian worshippers, who wanted to salute the omnipotence of the sun and its life-giving qualities, had done so by transforming their meaningless blabbering into a coherent set of ritual utterings, and language was born, hence the name.
Origins
The theory was influenced by the ideas of the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
historian Hilaire de Barenton
Hilaire de Barenton
Hilaire de Barenton , with real name Étienne Boulé, was a friar, historian of the languages of the Middle East. His name is often misspelled as de Baranton.-Biography:...
entitled "L'Origine des Langues, des Religions et des Peuples", that all languages originated from hieroglyphs and cuneiform
Cuneiform
Cuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
used by Sumerians and the paper of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n linguist Dr. Hermann F. Kvergić of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
entitled "La psychologie de quelques elements des langues Turques" ("The Psychology of Some Elements of the Turkic Languages
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
") and was given official backing and material support by the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
.
Tenets
As described in a 1936 The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
article on the curriculum of the newly opened School of Language, History and Geography of Ankara University
Ankara University
Ankara University is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in the Turkish Republic....
:
In short, based upon a helio-centric view of the origin of civilization and human languages, the theory claimed that the Turkish language was the language which all civilized languages derived from.
Some of the words provided with false Turkish etymologies through the practice of goropism were school, which was attributed to the Turkish word okul (school); God, attributed to the Turkish kut (luck); Bulletin from belleten (to learn by heart); Electric from Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
yaltrık (shine); and philosophy.
According to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, "it is possible that the Sun Language Theory was adopted by Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
in order to legitimize the Arabic and Persian words which the Turkish language authorities did not manage to uproot. This move compensated for the failure to provide a neologism for every foreignism/loanword."
Further reading
- Vryonis, SperosSperos VryonisSperos Vryonis Jr. is an American historian of Greek descent and a specialist in Greek and Byzantine history. He is the author of a number of works on Byzantine/Greek-Turkish relations, including The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh...
(1993). The Turkish State and History: Clio meets the Grey Wolf, 2nd Ed. Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies. - Main ideas of Sun Language Theory
- 1936 Sun Language Commission's Report