BALKAN TURKISH DIALECT CLASSIFICATIONS

In South-eastern Europe, endogenous communities of Turkish speakers are found in Eastern and Western Thrace, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Kosovo and the Dodecanese. These varieties are usually referred to as Rumelian Turkish, which is subdivided into West and East Rumelian Turkish. This West-East isogloss goes back to Németh’s classification (1956), and has been slightly revised. Gagauz, which is mostly an Eastern Rumelian variety, is spoken mostly in Moldova. Turkish dialect classification is traditionally focussed on Anatolia, whereas Balkan Turkish dialects have been less considered. Although there are many studies on single Balkan Turkish varieties, classification attempts are scarce. The most prominent classification has been made by Németh (1956), who laid the foundations for the description of West Rumelian Turkish.