VOWEL

AND CONSONANT

Turkish has 29 letters in its alphabet.

Some of these letters / o, u, a, / and / , , e, i / are vowels
the others / b, c, , d, f, g, , h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, y, z / are consonants.
Some of the vowels / , , / do not exist in English.
/, , / phonemes dont exist in English.

THE VOWEL HARMONY

The eight Turkish vowels are divided into two classes
All the words in the Turkish language follow either the first or the second harmony
chain.
1. The name of this rule is: BYK NL UYUMU / PALATAL HARMONY.
ince nller / thin vowel

n nller / front vowels are: e, i, ,

kaln nller / hard vowel

art nller / back vowels are: a, , o, u

a) If the vowel of the first syllable of a word is a front vowel, the vowels of the
subsequents (sonraki) syllables have to be front vowels.
b) If the vowel of the first syllable of a word is a back vowel, so are the vowels of
subsequent syllables.
Suffixes have two forms as a rule:

Any suffix appended to a hard word must have hard vowels

Any suffix appended to a soft word must have soft vowels
el
hand
ellerinde
in his hands
oda
room
odalarmzdan from our rooms
2. The name of this rule is: KK NL UYUMU / LABIAL HARMONY.
dz nller / flat vowel (unrounded vowels) are: a, e, , i
yuvarlak nller / rounded vowels are: o, , u,
Unrounded vowels are followed by unrounded and rounded vowels are followed by rounded vowels.
ACCORDING TO THESE RULES, EACH VOWEL MAY BE FOLLOWED BY ONLY TWO VOWELS:
Preceding vowel

Following vowel

e, i

e, i

e,

e,

a,

a,

a, u

a, u

All suffxes also have the same rules.

Some examples:
ocuk / child
ocuklar / children
ocuklarla / with children
ocuklarm / my children
ocuklarmla / with my children

ev / house
evi / the house
eve / to the house
evin / of the house

yol / road
yolu / the road
yola / to the road
yolun / of the road
yollar / roads

Deitiremediklerimizden misiniz?
Are you one of those whom we were unable to change?

Avrupallatramadklarmzdan msnz?
. Are you one of those whom we could not Europeanise?
The vowel in the first suffix determines the vowel in the next suffix, and so on. The vowel of each suffix
is determined by the vowel which precedes it.
el

hand.

Ellerinde

in his hands

CONSONANT HARMONY
There are two different cases of consonant harmony
either the last consonant of the main word changes, or the first consonant of the suffix changes.
Consonants are grouped into two subdivisions:
"yumuak sessizler"

voiced consonants: / b, c, d, g, , j, y, l, m, n, r, v, z /

"sert sessizler"

unvoiced consonants: / , f, k, p, s, , t /

The consonants that vibrate the vocal cords are named voiced consonants;
the unvoiced consonants do not vibrate them.
Some "unvoiced consonants" turn into their "voiced counterparts" when the suffixes starting with
vowels are attached to noun stems:
/p/ changes into /b/: kitap (kitab, kitaba), sebep (sebebi, sebebe), kebap (kebab, kebaba), orap
(orab, oraba), dolap (dolab, dolaba), arap (arab, araba), hesap (hesab, hesaba).
// changes into /c/: aa (aac, aaca), saya (sayac, sayaca), ama (amac, amaca), ayra (ayrac,
ayraca), deme (demeci, demece), kazan (kazanc, kazanca), tmle (tmleci, tmlece).
/k/ changes into //: sokak (soka, sokaa), tabak (taba, tabaa), krek (k-rei, kree), bebek
(bebei, bebee), kpek (kpei,kpee), ayak (aya, ayaa), bardak (barda, bardaa), kabak (kaba,
kabaa), soluk (soluu, solu-a), yrek (yrei, yree).
/t/ changes into /d/: adet (adedi, adede), kanat (kanad, kanada), st (sd, sde), umut
(umu:du, umu:da), yourt (yourdu, yourda), armut (armudu, armuda).
The allomorphs of [N] [in, n, n, un] also undergo the same changes when they are attached to
noun stems:

kitap-n (kitabn), sebep-in (sebebin), kebap-n (kebabn), orap-n (ora-bn), aa-n (aacn), ama-n
(amacn), sokak-n (sokan), krek-in (kre-in), bebek-in (bebein), ayak-n (ayan), kanat-n (kanadn),
yourt-un (yourdun).
However, some /t/ phonemes do not change:
Hayat (ha*ya:*t), (ha*ya:*ta), (ha*ya:*tn); sanat (san*a*t), (san*a*ta), (san*a*tn); sfat (s*fa*t),
(s*fa*ta), (s*fa*tn); saat (sa*a*ti), (sa*a*te), sa*a*tin); sepet (se*pe*ti), (se*pe*te), (se*pe*tin); glet
(g*le*ti, g*le*te, g*le*tin); demet (de*me*ti), (de*me*te), (de*me*tin).
The monosyllabic stems ending with unvoiced consonants do not change when they get the [],
[E], [DE], [DEN] and [personal] morphemes.
ek (eki, eke, ekte, ekten, ekin), sap (sap, sapa, sapta, saptan, sapn), ip (ipi, ipe, ipte, ipten, ipin), hap
(hap, hapa, hapta, haptan, hapn), tp (tp, tpe, tpte, tpten, tpn), top (topu, topa, topta, toptan,
topun), sa (sa, saa, sata, atan, san), i (ii, ie, ite, iten, iin), g (g, ge, gte, gten,
gn), ma (ma, maa, mata, matan, man), kk (kk, kke, kkte, kkten, kkn), ok (oku, oka,
okta, oktan, okun ), yk ( yk, yke, ykte, ykten, ykn), krk (krk, krke, krkte, krkn), Trk
(Trk, Trke, Trkte, Trkten, Trkn), at (at, ata, atta, attan, atn), et (eti, ete, ette, etten, etin), st
(st, ste, stte, stten, stn), ot (otu, ota, otta, ottan,otun), kart (kart, karta, kartta, karttan, kartn).
However, the final phonemes of some monosyllabic nouns do change when they are attached
only to [i, , , u], [e, a] and [in, n, n, un] allomorphs; they do not change when they are
attached to the allomorphs of the phonemes of [DE] and [DEN]:
but (budu, buda, budun, butta, buttan), dip (dibi, dibe, dibin, dipte, dipten), ok (ou, oa, oun, okta,
oktan), gk (g, ge, gn, gkte, gkten), kap (kab, kaba, kabn, kapta, kaptan), u (ucu, uca,
ucun, uta, utan), yurt (yurdu, yurda, yurdun, yurtta, yurttan), kurt (kurdu, kurda, kurdun, kurtta,
kurttan), tat (tad, tada, tadn, tatta, tattan).
When [] or [E] vowel morphemes come after the nouns ending with vowels, the /y/ linking
phonemes (glides) are inserted between these two vowels to maintain the harmonious
connection:
testi (tes*ti*/y/i, tes*ti*/y/e); araba (araba/y/, araba/y/a); tarla (tarla/y/, tarla/y/a); salata (salata/y/,
salata/y/a); mart (mart/y/, mart/y/a); tava (tava/y/, tava/y/a); teneke (teneke/y/I, teneke/y/e); makara
(makara/y/, makara/y/a); kundura (kundura/y/, kundura/y/a); kafa (kafa/y/, kafa/y/a); su (su/y/u,
su/y/a).
When the nouns ending with vowels are attached to the allomorphs of [N], which are used in
possessor + possessed noun compounds, the /n/ glides are inserted between the two vowels:
araba (araba-/n/n) (a*ra*ba*nn), testi (testi-/n/in) (tes*ti*nin), tarla (tarla-/n/n) (tar*la*nn), salata
(salata-/n/n) (sa*la*ta*nn), tava (tava-/n/n) (ta*va*nn), tavan (tavan-n) (ta*va*nn), kafa (kafa-/n/n)
(ka*fa*nn), makara (makara-/n/n) (ma*ka*ra*nn), mart (mart-/n/n) (mar*t*nn), ekmece
(ekmece-/n/in) (ek*me*ce*nin), bilmece (bilmece-/n/in) (bil*me* ce*nin), kayg (kayg-/n/n)
(kay*g*nn)
When pronouns are used in the possessor position, only the o pronoun is attached to un
possessor suffix together with the /n/ glide as those of the nouns:
ben-im, sen-in, o-/n/un, biz-im, siz-in, onlar-n
Exception: su (su/y/un). Example: araba-/n/n hz-, su-/y/un hz-.