On-Site Construction of Laz Literature

December 2021 - December 2022
ARTVİN, RİZE, ISTANBUL

The Laz language is a Kartvelian language spoken by the Laz people on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. It is estimated that there are around 20,000 native speakers of Laz in Turkey.

Efforts to create a Laz literary language date back to the second quarter of the 20th century. If the texts mostly compiled by linguists are excluded, the first examples of Laz literary language are a newspaper published in 1929 and some textbooks. Laz literacy studies were reinstated in the 1990s by Laz intellectuals living in Istanbul and gained a remarkable momentum in the 2010s. However, the fact that Laz studies were limited to Istanbul only and the low number of Laz-speaking population prevented the emergence of a sufficient number of literary products, while inhibiting the formation of a readership and the spread of Laz studies to the grassroots. Today, with the introduction of new communication and social media devices, it is possible to appeal to a wider audience.

Within the scope of the On-Site Construction of Laz Literature, Laz literature was developed in several ways. Laz is a language that has been transmitted orally for thousands of years. Laz language is actively used by middle-aged and older people in many villages. The project aimed to secure that people whose mother tongue is Laz, but who can not read and write in Laz language, become Laz literate through online courses. Participants were given lectures in areas such as Laz orthography, grammar, dialectology, phonology, language history, etymology, expression and stylistic studies, and text analysis. Through Laz language courses, the capacity of the participants were developed to manage processes such as editing, proofreading on texts in Laz language. In order to make concrete contributions to Laz literature, the works of people who produce Laz literary products were published as books, these works were promoted at the online literature festivals, and the production in the field of Laz literature was supported through literary competitions.

İrfan Çağatay Aleksiva

İrfan Çağatay Aleksiva, born in Rize in 1981, attended Laz language studies in Istanbul, where he came for university education in 2002. He is one of the authors of the Great Laz Dictionary published in 2006. His articles were published in Laz magazines such as Skani Nena and Tanura. He published the Laz literature magazine Uncire and the first fully Laz newspaper in Turkey, Ağani Murutsxi. He has worked towards the strengthening of the Laz literary language and has undertaken the publishing or editorship of many Laz books. Çağatay, who has works in specific fields such as Laz Place Names Dictionary and Plant Names in Laz Dictionary, continues his Laz studies and works as a publisher.

İrfan Çağatay Aleksiva during a field study

This page is published on 10 January 2022.