Common Nouns with Divergent Meanings in Iraqi Turkmen Turkic and Turkey Turkic

Abstract

Throughout its history, the Turkish language has developed across a wide geographical area, resulting in a rich vocabulary shaped by diverse dialects and sub-dialects. Among these, Iraqi Turkmen Turkish—classified within the Oghuz group and spoken in regions such as Kirkuk, Tal Afar, Erbil, and Tuzhurmatu—shares strong historical and cultural ties with Turkey Turkish. Previous studies commonly provide detailed information about the regions inhabited by Turkmens, the historical origins of their language, and its position within the Oghuz branch. Since these issues have already been comprehensively addressed in earlier research, this study does not include a separate introductory section in order to avoid repetition.

Although Iraqi Turkmen Turkish and Turkey Turkish exhibit significant similarities in phonological and morphological features, noticeable semantic differences exist between them. This study examines noun forms that are shared by both varieties but differ in meaning, employing a comparative–semantic approach. The data were collected from written texts and dictionaries of Iraqi Turkmen Turkish, as well as fundamental lexicographic sources of Turkey Turkish. The historical traces of these nouns in Old and Middle Turkic were also analyzed, and their relations within contemporary Oghuz dialects were evaluated. The findings demonstrate that the semantic divergences observed in nouns arise naturally from historical development, regional interaction, and dialectal differentiation between the two speech communities.