True and False in the Evaluation of Language Use

Abstract

This paper examines the evaluation of language use as true or false in popular linguistic discussions in Turkey. Having been increased lately, these debates generally aim at gathering the words and sentences which are though to be false and at providing their correct forms. The participants in these debate sometimes judge particular items incorrectly relying on their personal views or the belief saying that "there is no such thing in Turkish!", which lacks a scientific base. However, they should follow grammatical rules, social acceptability and personal creativeness based on the rules when they evaluate a problematic language use. Actually, these debates should increase the level of personal consciousness for language use instead of just finding and correcting the false usages.