Author(s): Muharrem ÃZDEN
Western Thrace, a part of Thrace (Θρ?κη in Greek), is a land of Thrace region covering the Greek land. The region is located on the west of Greece so it is also called Western-Greece. This is the region where Turkish language is mostly spoken in Greece. Approximately 100.000 Muslim Turks live there. The region is comprised of three provinces. They are the province of Ksanti (Ξ?νθη), the province of Rodopi (Νομ?ς Ροδ?πης), and the province of Evros (?βρου). The region is divided into three sub-administrational units where the capital city of Ksanti province is Ksanti, the capital city of Rodopi province is Komotini (Κομοτην?), and the capital city of Evros province is Aleksandropolis (Αλεξανδρο?πολη). The research field of the study is Komotini (the capital city of Rodopi province) and the villages around it. The investigated region is expected to give important clues in terms of accent about the other two provinces. Komotini was chosen because of the density of the Turkish population in the whole province where western Thrace Turkish accent is perfectly represented and also it is away from the cosmopolitan structure of Evros and Ksanti. Our study also proves that desp ite the borders, the Turkish spoken in the western Thrace has a lot of common features with the Turkish spoken in the eastern Thrac e in reference to the previously conducted studies. One of the old men who was interviewed stated that this geographical region hosted various civilizations and the Turkish identity has not lost anything for centuries and even Turkish Identity gained meaning by the cultural values and life style. This study focused on investigating Western Thrace - Komutini accent by eliciting various samples from the region to make the conclusions on the local accent by identifying fundamental characteristics of form.
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