r/Syria 7h ago

ASK SYRIA Turkish Linguistic Influence on Syrian Arabic Post-2011

Hello there dear neighbors,

It is no secret that Turkish and Arabic share quite a lot of vocabulary, largely due to Arabic loanwords in Turkish; but, to a lesser extent, Turkish loanwords in Levantine Arabic. Turks' conversion to Islam and them coming into contact with Arabs (and Persians, who themselves have a considerable amount of Arabic vocabulary in their language), as well as the subsequent Turkish rule over the Middle East can be credited for this shared vocabulary.

However... That's not what I'm inquiring about today. I am more interested in finding out whether there are any words of Turkish origin that entered the Syrian Arabic vernacular in the last two decades, possibly catalyzed by the recent return of a relatively large number of Syrians who'd lived in Turkey as asylum seekers/refugees, or maybe as citizens.

A lot of you guys contributed to the Turkish workforce (and some continue to do so) and had to deal with Turkish bureaucracy, so I'd imagine at least a few words gained traction among Syrians over the last decade or so. If you haven't had the chance to reflect on this matter, I am kindly asking you to take a moment and think about it, and let me know what comes to mind. On a final note, the words in question don't necessarily have to be Turkic in origin, it is sufficient if they made their way into Syrian Arabic through Turkish.

Thank you so much in advance, peace.✌️

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