Hemşince

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Hemşince is the Turkish dialect spoken by the Hamshenis of the Rize Province in Turkey, particularly in Hemşin, Çamlıhemşin (Vija) and in the mountainous interior of Pazar (Atina), Çayeli (Mapavri), Ardeşen (Artaşen) districts. Turkish was gradually adopted by Western group of Hamshenis after Islamicisation of the local population . Hemşince had since evolved into a separate dialect with differences from the Turkish dialects spoken in other parts of Rize and still contains some originally Armenian words. A modified version of Turkish alphabet with 34 letters is sometimes used to write in Hemşince by authors like Serkan Pehlivan. However, the prestige of standard Turkish and concerns of nationalistic reactions confine these efforts to an experimental level. It should not be confused with Homshetsi, an Armenian language, although "Hemşince" is the usual Turkish naming for Homshetsi. In the academic Turkish jargon, Hemşince is often referred to as Hemşin ağzı (Hamshen sub-dialect).

[edit] References

• Bert Vaux, Hemshinli: The Forgotten Black Sea Armenians, Harvard University, 2001.