Turks of Osh and Zhalal-Abad regions in Kyrgyzstan: The socio-cultural structure and language

This thesis analyses the socio-cultural structure, phonetics, and morphology (within the limits of inflectional morpheme) of the Turks in the Osh and Zhalal-Abad Regions of Kyrgyzstan. The group of Turks studied in this thesis, who are considered as an ethnic group within the borders of the Kyrgyz Republic, predominantly resides in the Ozgon District of the Osh Region. Although the Turks living in this region, speaking the Karluk group of the Common Turkic Language, are not different in terms of socio-cultural structure from other Turkic ethnic groups such as Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, and Kazakhs of the region, they are the sole indigenous people living in the historic geography of Turkistan, meaning "land of the Turks", and is today called Central Asia, under the name "Turk." The thesis analyses the transitional beliefs and practices of the Turks, characteristics of the colloquial language, and its position in the Common Turkic Language based on audio recordings collected in the Osh and Zhalal-Abad regions of Kyrgyzstan in August-September 2017, August-September 2018, and in the Osh region in 2002 and 2012. The thesis is comprised of an introduction and five chapters. The introduction describes the materials on which the research is based on, the content of the methodology used in collecting the materials, and the method of investigation. Chapter 1 discusses the period of Russian domination and the current situation of Kyrgyzstan, Osh, Zhalal-Abad, and the Turks living in these regions. Chapter 2 primarily focuses on the transitional beliefs and practices of the Turks, who were the subject of our Master's thesis. Chapter 3, based on the audio materials collected during the field research conducted for our doctoral dissertation, examines the language, phonetics (in detail), and morphology (within the limits of inflectional morpheme) of the Turks living in the Osh and Zhalal-Abad regions of Kyrgyzstan. Chapter 4 presents the texts that form the basis of our study, transcribed in both the Turkish Alphabet and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). In the socio-cultural structure section of our study, the relevant term names are shown in the Turkish Alphabet as used in Türkiye, while the information about the source persons is given in the "References" section of our study. In the analyses of the language, the text transcribed with the IPA is taken as a basis and the information about the source persons is presented in the "Source Person Information Form" and the "Texts" section. Chapter 5 contains an index of these texts. At the end of our study, References, Turkish and English Abstracts are included. Keywords: Ozgon Turks, Turks of Osh and Zhalal-Abad regions, Fergana Turks, Socio - Cultural Structure of Turks of Osh and Zhalal-Abad regions, Language Turks of Osh and Zhalal-Abad regions, transitional beliefs and practices, Phonology, Socio-cultural structure