{"id":5242,"date":"2026-08-16T14:21:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T14:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ling.news\/?p=5242"},"modified":"2026-08-16T14:21:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T14:21:35","slug":"self-taught-turkish-linguist-keeps-dead-language-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ling.news\/?p=5242","title":{"rendered":"Self-taught Turkish \u2018linguist\u2019 keeps dead language alive"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-lnk-sptlght block-editor-block-list__block wp-block wp-block-visual-link-preview-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2654050\/world\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"Self-taught Turkish \u2018linguist\u2019 keeps dead language alive\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-3 vlp-link-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/watermark_670x423\/public\/main-image\/2026\/08\/10\/4739426-2146784432.jpg?itok=4HKz7h9f\" style=\"max-width: 1024px; max-height: 1024px\" \/><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-url\">www.arabnews.com<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-title\">Self-taught Turkish \u2018linguist\u2019 keeps dead language alive<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-summary\">CAVUSTEPE, Turkiye: Mehmet Kusman did not spend very long at school, but he traced the ancient inscriptions chiselled into the black basalt rock and read: \u201cBefore me there was nothing. But by the power of the god Haldi I founded this city.\u201d Kusman, 86, has dedicated his life to the fortress of Cavustepe in eastern Turkiye, and to learning the language of the vanished kingdom of Urartu, to honor its forgotten deities and rulers.<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-5242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultura","tag-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5243,"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5242\/revisions\/5243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}