Kemalism, Language and Hegemony

Abstract

One of the important aspects of the history of Turkey’s modernization is the Turkish
language reform that took place in the cultural field during the Single Party period, and
which we cannot say has ended yet. It cannot be ignored that the Turkish language reform
was a key factor in spreading the hegemony of Kemalism in society. It can be suggested
that Gramsci’s findings on language and the set of concepts he uses have a seminal role
in the study of the different dimensions of the Turkish language reform. In particular,
Gramsci’s emphasis on the political character of the relationship of culture and language
to social groups and social classes makes his studies important. Gramsci’s writings on the
language, although they do not hold much of a whole, can be considered as a summary
and road signs of a large-scale program that he planned for the future but did not live long
enough to do so. The connections that he establishes between language, hegemony, subalternity,
worldview, history, culture, commonsense, class struggle and civil society make
his analyses multidimensional. This study aims to examine some of the points Gramsci’s
work implied with regard to the Turkish language reform without referring to his broad
and comprehensive approach entirely and albeit in a limited way.