Rhetorical analysis of the legeneds compiled from Kırşehir

Kirsehir is a cultural focal in the center of Anatolia that has hosted various civilizations. As is known, Kirsehir has had such a great role for the spread of Turkish culture and civilization. Not only did people leading the development of Turkish written language live in Kirsehir but also Akhisim, a quite crucial social organization, has been founded in the geographical region. All contributed to enrichment of verbal culture in central Anatolia to some extent. One of the important products of such verbal culture is Legends. The genre of legend is a non-standard type of narration reporting particular person, location and incidents with extraordinary features; nevertheless, it still has the characteristic of persuasiveness. One of the most known features of legends is persuasiveness, and accordingly, the question " Why do people believe in legends?" has been the departure point of the current study. In order this answer this question, "Rhetorical Analysis Method", which was proposed by Aristo in the ancient times, and was developed and applied to legends by Elliot Orig, has been updated and used in the analysis of 173 legends compiled from Kirsehir region without purging particular features of narrator, narration and hearer/audience. As a pioneering work in Turkish context with original legends, this research has revealed various detailed elements contributing to rhetorical investigation of legends. From this perspective, it can also be stated that the current investigation method has produced successful outcomes.