Istanbul Gelisim University - University students voted: 'Gökmen' should be used instead of astronaut

University students voted: 'Gökmen' should be used instead of astronaut

After President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement of the National Space Program, people from all walks of life showed interest in the exchange of ideas, which started to use a Turkish-origin word instead of the word "astronaut". The results of the word search, including university students, were revealed by a survey. University members gave the most votes for "Gökmen" to use the word "astronaut" instead.

Upon President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call to "Come, let's find a Turkish name for Turkish space passengers", Istanbul Gelişim University students used the word "Gökmen" in their social media survey.

“NEW GENERATION CAN ADOPT THIS WORD”

Underlining that a usage suitable for the sound and form characteristics of Turkish should be preferred when foreign words cannot replaced, Abdülkadir Gayretli, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Istanbul Gelisim University, said: “Both media institutions and educational institutions have a job in this regard. By using the same term in publications, books and lessons, we can ensure that the new generation adopt this word.”

“THE SUFFIX “-MAN” COULD BE USED”

A graduate of Turkish Language and Literature, Gayretli reminded that the Turkish Language Association suggested the word "Gökmen" instead of the word astronaut before: “the suffix “-man” could be used. In both historical and contemporary Turkish dialects, this additional appears in various functions. Among Turcologists, there are also those who express different opinions about the grammatical aspect of this suffix. Finally, since the early years of the republic, this supplement has been used a lot in the efforts to purify the language from foreign words and to Turkishize it. Job titles such as ‘sayman’ (Treasurer), ‘danışman’ (advisor), ‘eğitmen’ (trainer), ‘öğretmen’ (teacher) etc. Reproduced with this suffix.”