Merve KOLİKPINAR

Dede Korkut Narratives, which make information about the migrant Oghuz community, their lives, traditions, conception of life and values possible to survive up to the present through the portrayal of characters around Bayındır Khan, are still a great source of research for Turkish cultural studies. The literary work enables researches to deduce information about the life conditions of the day as well as their values. It will also be our main source in this study as regards evaluation of gender roles in Oghuz community and language-gender realtions. This study is comprised of four chapters. First, the source work is explained. Second, Sociaolinguistics is explained in the contet of Language and Society. In the third chapter, social gender and language relations are explored with a view to sociolinguistics. The main reason why Dede Korkut narratives are chosen for this study is the closeness of both sexes and the similarity in thier social and cultural roles. Both female and male discourses find a place in the narratives, which has opned the gate of research on the influence of gender upon language. The purpose of the research is to determine gender roles in the Turkish culture as they are presented in Dede Korkut narratives, and then analyze the relations between gender roles and language use. The study is limited to one narrative titled, “Boghach Khan, Son of Dhirse Khan”.

Key Words: Dede Korkut Narratives, Gender Roles, Sociolinguistics, LanguageGender Relations