Abstract:

The first attempts at a constructed language to create a common and universal language, in particular Volapük (1879) and Esperanto (1887) in the last quarter of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, had wide repercussions in the world press. The Ottoman press was also not indifferent to this popular topic, with articles and books being written on the subject such as books about Volapük and Esperanto that were translated into Ottoman Turkish during the years when they were in demand all over the world. The purpose of this article is to introduce the works that occurred in the Ottoman press regarding these constructed languages, most of which have not been translated into modern Turkish, and to describe the approach Ottoman intellectuals took toward these languages that they described as lisân-ı umûmî [the language of public life]. For this purpose, the study focuses on six books from the Ottoman press and five articles from the journal Servet-i Fünûn that were published between 1893- 1917 on constructed languages. Upon examining these works, the Ottoman intellectuals are seen to have had positive views about constructed languages, to have claimed them to be easily and quickly learned and to belong to any nation, to have introduced them as the key to peace, and to have described them as neutral, which offered a solution to the problems caused by the lack of those able to speak a foreign language in a world that was getting smaller and smaller alongside the technological developments.

Keywords: