White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-02-08
PRIMER OF ALPHABET
TURKS BEST SELLER
Population Going to School
All Over Again.

plishing in China. Turkey, and Italy
in few years what heretofore
has required centuries-the building
up and enforcement Of new languages.
Turkey, in particular, is going to
school all over again and everywhere.
on tile streets, in the stores. In the
street cars and trains Turks are por-
ing over the primer decreed by Presi-
dent Mustapha Renal Pasha. who be-
lieves that adherence to the ancient
Arabic script and type has had re-
tarding influence upon the country.
Everywhere the new primers are
being sold by newsboys, news dealers,
and in book stores. The Latin alpha.
bet. with the equivalent of each let
ter in the Arabic script. also is being
displayed and sold for few pennies
on almost every street corner. Signs
on the stores and shops are being
changed to Latin characters. while
the newspapers gradually are printing
the news in the new type.
Newspapers Help.
SCHOOLS have sprung up in every
village" says Miss Adelaide McNa'
mara, director of exhibits in the New
York city department Of health, who
recently returned from touring Eu-
rope, land l was amazed to note the
progress being made in Turkey. Not
many years ago when | was there
less than 10 per cent of the popula.
tion was literate, but now every one
you meet is reading, and the majority
of them reading the new primer.
every day the newspapers print
the picture of some familiar object
with the name beneath in the old
Arabic and the new Latin characters.
In this way the entire population is
gradually being taught the new alpha.
bet. One of the most striking things
noticed was that the traveller on
the railroads for the first time can
read the names of the stations he
passes.
"Mustapha Renal seems to have
won the whole country over to his
point of view, and, at any rate, he is
forcing the country to enlighten it.
self, for if the present desire for edu.
cation, continues every man, woman,
and child in Turkey will be able to
read and write, something many conn
tries cannot boast"
The new Latin alphabet is not only
to come into current use but the Con-
stantinople dialect is to become the
criterion for Turkish pronunciation.
according to Miss Elizabeth MacCul-
lum, who is in charge Of the Near
East division of the Foreign Policy
association. Miss MacCullum thinks
the average Turk is sure to feel a
relief at seeing the exact phonetic
value as pictured by the new Latin
lied alphabet.
"The Turkish primer, or alphabet,
which President Renal has sought to
enforce upon the Turkish nation"
says Miss MacCullum, 'in place of
the Arabic characters, imposes a num-
Der of characters whose phonetic val
ues are borrowed mainly from the
French and Hungarian alphabets. to-
gether with few conventional char
acters adopted from the system in use
among international orientalists.
Turks, MongoIians.
"a striking feature of the Turk
ish language, when Transcribed into
Latin characters, is the new phonetic
values which lie hidden behind the
garb of Arabic letters. 1t should be
borne in mind that whereas the Turks
are Turanian people and belong to
the Monaghan race, the Arabs are
Semites. When the Turks came in
contact with the Arabs and absorbed
theil culture, customs, and political
heritage they adopted their religion
and wrote their own language in Ara.
bic characters. But the two languages.
Turkish being Turanian and Arabic
Semitic. are incompatible linguistical.
ly. Hence marked difficulty arose
"Tnis difficulty lay mainly in that
the Arabic language quite infreQuently
fails to produce the exact sounds OF
the Turkish vocables. So that mum.
Der of Arabic letters have had to ac-
quire new pronunciation. For in
stance, the word Turk itself may be
transcribed into English thus: T. as
in English; U. as in tinke; r. as in
English; X, as in English. Accord
Ing TO Arabic phonology, 1t should be
pronounced Toork. But the Turks
pronounce IT Teurk, the U as the
French pronounce it, thus creating d
new sound to the Arabic U, or Waw