Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis of the Eighth Grade History Textbook Used in Armenia

Authors : Ercan Cihan Ulupınar

Pages : 119-139

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Publication Date : 2024-08-27

Article Type : Research

Abstract :This study aims to examine the historical and political discourses in the textbook titled “History of Armenians” («Հայոց պատմություն») used in the eighth grade with the approval of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in the Republic of Armenia. The study uses a corpus-based discourse analysis method for this purpose. In the textbook it examines, the study first determines the most used words, and, secondly, the words “war” and “enemy” and the frequencies of the synonyms, near-synonyms and antonyms of these words. At the third stage, it determines the most frequently used dates. It lastly analyzes the words that refer to peoples other than the Armenians. The study discusses the words “Turk” and “Ottoman” in the context of “the other”, different words derived from the afore-mentioned two words with examples from concordances. It is noteworthy that the word “Turk” is among the most frequently used words in the textbook. In the textbook, which focuses on the dates of 1917 and 1918, it can be seen that words meaning \"war\" are used more than words meaning “peace”. When concordances were examined, the study determines that the “Turkish” and “Ottoman” words are used systematically with word types that create negative images.
Keywords : Eğitim Materyali, Ermenilerin Tarihi, Osmanlı Devleti, \"Öteki\", Türkler