Gamecocks and cockfighting in the context of culture and language (The case of Van-Erciş)

M.Sc. Thesis Orhan SABAK VAN YUZUNCU YIL UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES May, 2025 GAMECOCKS AND COCKFIGHTING IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURE AND LANGUAGE (THE CASE OF VAN-ERCİŞ) ABSTRACT The formation processes of language and culture, which are the phenomenal results of human interactions (human-human, human-nature, human-animal), the effects of culture and language use on a social group that forms them, and the way they shape the character and performance characteristics of group members are the subject of this study. By examining that the phenomena of culture and language formed by the language mechanism in human beings transform human beings at the same time, the existence of human in language as well as language in human beings is discussed. Fighting cocks and cockfights were chosen as the object of research. The social group is the cockfighters in this research. Within the scope of a five-year field study in Erciş, which was selected as the research field, data on the production, feeding, classification, training and competition processes of fighting cocks were compiled by interviewing, observing, interviewing, video and audio recording methods by staying in the field for a long time. At the same time, the social network and competitions that occur before and after the competition were analyzed by participating in the competitions and the verbal communication environments after the competitions, in accordance with the "fit the environment" principle of anthropology and folklore. In this direction, the cultural phenomena of human-animal interaction around the breeding processes of fighting roosters selected as a sample among the competition animals are discussed within the scope of anthrozoological folklore. The factual results of human-human communication, linguistic, psychocultural, economic analysis of the processes were analyzed. Cockfighting, which is a social group of fighting cock breeders and cockfighting, which is a rule-based, focused, verbal social organization, is explained within the scope of anthrozoological elements through the interaction between roosters and their trainers (owners-owners), and linguistic phenomena formed in the cock breeding and competition processes. The focus is on the impact of the professional language and culture created by the communication of rooster fighters, who call themselves "community" as a subgroup within the society, with each other and with roosters on human life. As the research continued, it was determined that the language used by the cockerels, a social group, needed to be understood and explained, that no one but themselves could understand it, and that other processes related to the subject could not be explained and understood without explaining the theatrical language they used during the performance. Thus, the vocabulary used by the group was identified and evaluated within the scope of sociolinguistics and this sociolinguistics was evaluated in terms of folk linguistics and sociolinguistics. In this context, the vocabulary of the process was analyzed in terms of euphemistic meaning, gender language, social language, metaphorical references, frequency of sound use, and the metaphors formed in the processes of raising and fighting fighting cockerels, material and spiritual cultural elements and vocabulary were analyzed within the scope of linguistic relativity, anthrozoological culture, folk zoology, folk linguistics. Cockfighting is a social organization that involves "focused gathering" and interaction in the form of a competition with rules. These competitions, organized for the purposes of games, entertainment and betting, can be evaluated in the context of anthrozoology, as they create an actional language that evokes ambition, competition, anger, pride, contesting masculinity, cheating, war, and that enables human and animal communication. This language is one of the research objects of folk linguistics in the sense that it is a secret communication and agreement system for a group that was not produced by linguistics experts, but was created verbally in a conversational environment by natural, ordinary representatives of a group that prefers to remain hidden. In the process of raising and fighting the fighting cock, a special language belonging to this social group develops among the cockerels. These linguistic phenomena include the group members' own meanings and interpretations and refer to their own and the roosters' actions. This special vocabulary, called jargon or sociolinguistics, is performed orally in a way that only they understand. The dynamic vocabulary created as a result of the performance performed by the "Fighting Subjects" and the "Speaking Subjects" using body language was identified. The formation of these words arising from the oral language use of a group, their meanings in the "cockerel community" and the examples and reasons for the transfer of this jargon to social life and the softening of words with censorship and euphemism are explained in terms of folk linguistics. An annotated dictionary explaining the meaning relations and usage patterns of words has been created. The practicality of language use is explained in terms of the dynamics of oral language. This language, which is formed as a result of the live performances of rooster owners and passed on to the next generations, has a function that carries messages of command to their own roosters and psychological superiority to rival rooster fighters. It is aimed to examine the culture and language formed by the social group that has made cockfighting a profession throughout the process in the context of the relationship between society and language, economic and cultural phenomena, and anthrozoology. Keywords: Anthrozoology, folk linguistics, cockfighting, culture, sociolinguistics Quantity of page: xviii+340 Supervisor: Assoc. Dr. Metin EREN