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Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 49:1 (2026) ► pp.58–86

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Compiling the first spoken corpus for Turkish youth talk

Overview of the corpus and methodological issues

ORCiD logo with link | Gazi UniversityAnkara
ORCiD logo with link | Middle East Technical UniversityAnkara
Published online: 28 July 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.25007.efe
Abstract
This paper addresses issues related to the design and compilation of the first spoken corpus of youth talk in an under-represented language in corpus linguistics, Turkish. Designed to offer a maximally representative sample of Turkish youth talk, the Corpus of Turkish Youth Language (CoTY) is a 168,748-token specialised corpus within the single register of informal, naturally occurring and spontaneous interaction exclusively among friends. The speakers are Turkish-speaking youth aged 14 to 18 from diverse socio-economic backgrounds in Türkiye. In this paper, the issues that surfaced during corpus design and construction are presented, with a discussion and justification of the methodological choices in relation to the long-term project objectives. The corpus contributes to the field as a valuable resource and tool for cross-linguistic youth language research. As an overarching fundamental goal, the project also aims to expand on the cumulative linguistic and methodological knowledge in spoken corpus design and construction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Youth talk corpora
  • 3.Compiling spoken data
    • 3.1Defining the sample
    • 3.2Recruiting the participants
    • 3.3Collecting spoken data
  • 4.Corpus building
  • 5.The corpus of Turkish youth language (CoTY)
    • 5.1Corpus description
    • 5.2Utilising CoTY: Is there a distinct Turkish youth language?
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Ethics
  • Declaration of AI use
  • Notes
  • References
References (84)
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