The characterıstıcs of turkmen dıalects ın the dıstrıct of tunceli

The Turkmen dialects in the district of Tunceli which are placed in the Eastern Group according to Karahan classification include the dialects of the oldest settlements in the region such as Pertek, Hozat, Çemişgezek and Mazgirt and also some of their villages. The Turkish groups which settled down along the borders through Keban Dam in the south and southwest of Tunceli use this dialect. While the Turkmen dialects in the district of Tunceli overlap Elazığ/Harput completely, they have a partial connection with that of Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia in terms of the dialect characteristics. Moreover, most of the characteristics of these dialects determined below have lots of in common with the dialects of Eastern Group and some of these are specific to that region and characterized. While the Turkmen dialects in the region were being examined approximately forty characteristics were defined and these characteristics were supported by the examples collected from these dialects. Although the Turkmen dialects in the district of Tunceli have a unity in terms of these forty characteristics some minor, regional and phonetic differences indicate that this Turkmen dialect has three different dialect sub-groups in itself. When the general characteristics of the dialects in the region are considered together it is observed that mostly the language characteristics of Avşar from Turkish branches are dominant in the region and then that of Salur scarcely. It must also be said that since the settlement of the Oghuz in these territories, through forced migrations and relocations due to various reasons, tribes have intermingled so much that in most cases it is impossible to determine which Oghuz tribe is concentrated in which area. The same difficulty also applies to determining the dialect characteristics of some areas according to tribes