Linguist (b. 22 January 1956, Adana).
He completed his primary and secondary school education in Adana and high
school education in İstanbul. He worked as a journalist during his high school
years. He worked as a correspondent at Son
Havadis and Yeni İstanbul newspapers. His early
works, in the short story and essay genre, were published in Yeni Adana, Bizim Anadolu, Çakıl and Son Havadis newspapers.
In 1979, after
graduating from Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Turkish
Language and Literature, he started his PhD thesis in the same department he
just graduated from. While working for his doctorate he worked as a teacher for
a while. For a short period he worked at the Publication Bureau of Ansiklopedik
Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi (Encyclopedic Travel Book of Evliya Çelebi),
which was established by the Turkology Institute under the auspices of Ministry
of Culture. In 1983 he worked as a lecturer at Çukurova University.
In 1987 he completed his doctorate
thesis on Saltuknâme I (Saltuknâme* I,
Research-Text) at İstanbul University in the field of
New Turkish Language. In 1989 he was appointed as an assistant at Çukurova
University, Faculty of Literature and Science, Department of Turkish Language
and Literature. In 1990 he became an assistant professor of New Turkish
Language and was selected as a member of Turkish Language Association Science
Committee in
Akalın has written approximately 100
essays and declarations related to the Turkish language and his works have been
published in various scientific reviews, the first being in the review Türk Dili. Akalın has conducted
important studies on the translation of computer terms into Turkish and the
correct use of the Turkish language on computers. In addition to his works in
the area of computers, he has also supported the studies on the common use of
Turkish and Turkish content on the Internet. In February 1997 he launched the
website Türkoloji Dünyası (World of Turkology) and in November
1998 he established Türkoloji Haberleşme
Grubu (Turkology Communication Group). In 1999 he published the first and
only worldwide online Turkology review called Sanal Türkoloji Araştırmaları.
In 1995 he started the serial
publication Türkoloji Araştırmaları (Turkology Research) in Adana. 10
books about Turkology have been published in this serial so far. In 1996, he
established the Turkology Research Center at Çukurova University to do research
on the Turkish language, literature and history and worked as the director of
this center for five years. He was selected as the 2003 President of the
Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PAIC), the permanent general
secretariat of which is based in the United States.
WORKS:
STUDY-RESEARCH-EDITION: Ebü'l-Hayr-ı Rumi, Saltuk-nâme I (Ebü'l-Hayr-ı Rumi-Saltuk-nâme* I,
1987), Ebü'l-Hayr-ı Rumi, Saltuk-nâme
II (Ebü'l-Hayr-ı Rumi- Saltuk-nâme* II, 1988), Ebü'l-Hayr-ı Rumi, Saltuk-nâme III (Ebü'l-Hayr-ı Rumi- Saltuk-nâme* III, 1990), Eski Anadolu Türkçesi (Old Anatolian Turkish, 3rd edition, 1995).
TRAVEL LITERATURE:
Anayurttan Atayurda (From Motherland
to Fatherland, 1995).
DICTIONARY: Şor Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Şor*, edition
with N.N. Kurpeşko, 1995), Teleüt Ağzı
Sözlüğü (Dictionary of the Teleüt* Dialect, edition with C. Turgunbayev,
translation, 2000).