A RESEARCH ON THE VOCABULARY ITEMS IN FAIRY TALES WHICH WERE COMPOSED FOR CHILDREN BY BESTAMI YAZGAN

Abstract

This research aims to determine the vocabulary items in Bestami Yazgan’s fairy tale texts. Accordingly, this research
seeks to answer the question “What is the quantity of (both in variety and in total) vocabulary items, idioms,
reduplications, proper nouns, phrases, sayings, translated words, and proverbs in Bestami Yazgan’s fairy tale Works
which were composed for children?” In addition to the content analysis method which has been used, frequency
analysis, which is a sub-branch of the former, has also been resorted in preparation of the vocabulary lists in the fairy
tale works in the research. This study, which has been carried out on 146 fairy tale texts which are included in Yazgan’s
56 fairy tale books, has come to the conclusion that the texts are rich, both in number and in variety, in vocabulary
items, and that the total vocabulary item number is 64,687 and the different vocabulary item number is 5.838. The
abundance and the diversity of vocabulary items in the fairy tales of the author is a favourable feature that offers to the
child audience to encounter with the rich vocabulary of the Turkish language at an early age. Yazgan, who highlights
the folk’s customs, way of living, cultural values, and social relationships in his fairy tale works, has also included
many proverbs, idioms, phrases, and reduplications in his work which contribute to his style, and thus, created a rich
fairy tale language whose strong suit is its didacticism