Lesson 2 · Ders 2
Vowel and Consonant Harmony in Turkish
Lesson vocabulary
deniz - sea
doktor - doctor
dünya - world, universe
göz - eye
gül - rose
hoş - nice, pleasant
kuş - bird
mektup - letter (mail)
müdür - manager, director
otobüs - bus
silgi - eraser (for wiping)
söz - word
sözlük - dictionary
tahta - blackboard
televizyon - television
vurgu - stress, accent
yıldız - star
yoğurt - yogurt
Interrogative pronouns kim and ne
In the Turkish language, to express the questions Who is this? What is this?, the demonstrative pronouns bu, şu, o are used in combination with the interrogative words kim (who) and ne (what). The question kim? refers to people, while ne? refers to objects. Please note: when referring to animals, the question Bu ne? (What is this?) is also usually used.
Bu ne? Bu masa. (What is this? This is a table.)
Bu kim? Bu Ali. (Who is this? This is Ali.)
Palatal Harmony Principle
The main feature of the phonetic structure of the Turkish language is the synharmonism (harmony) of vowels and consonants. The effect of vowel harmony is that in the roots of words, the quality of the vowel in the first syllable determines the quality of the vowels in subsequent syllables. This phenomenon does not apply to the roots of borrowed words; however, it applies with ironclad consistency when adding various affixes (suffixes) to express different lexical and grammatical meanings of a word.
All vowels in the Turkish language are divided into two groups:
| Palatal: | e i ö ü | (Front vowels) | |
| Non-palatal: | a ı о u | (Back vowels) |
When pronouncing back vowels, the tongue is pulled back slightly (it does not touch the palate); when pronouncing front vowels, it is pushed forward (it touches the palate). This is why they are called that. Track your tongue, and everything will be clear. If tracking fails, hire a detective to track it for you 
.
Vowels in the root of a native Turkish word can be only palatal or only non-palatal.
Deniz
Tavuk
However, the Turkish language has a huge number of loanwords where this pattern is broken in the root. This rule applies when adding various suffixes to roots (stems of words). Let’s consider plural affixes to demonstrate this phonetic phenomenon of the language.
Plural
To express the plurality of objects, persons, phenomena, etc., two affixes, lar and ler, are used in Turkish, attaching directly to the root of the word.
So, in accordance with the principle of palatal harmony, if the last syllable of a word contains the vowels a ı o u, the affix lar is attached; if it contains the vowels e i ö ü, then ler is attached:
a ı o u → lar: masa + lar, kapı + lar, televizyon + lar, okul + lar
e i ö ü → ler: çiçek + ler, şehir + ler, söz + ler, gözlük + ler
Exercise 2.1. Form the plural of the following nouns.
Araba, masa, öğretmen, sıra, aile, kedi, ders, pencere, çiçek, baba, çanta, müdür, defter, dolap, ev, şehir, öğrenci, kitap, silgi, otobüs, kalem, doktor, köpek, cetvel, tahta, gül, oğul, ağaç
Exercise 2.2. Translate into Turkish.
Tables, dogs, windows, cars, friends, students, streets, notebooks, cupboards, houses, bags, flowers, sons, rulers, desks, buses, books, lessons, pens, trees, cats.
Exercise 2.3. Translate into English.
Kitaplar, kalemler, çiçekler, tahtalar, öğrenciler, köpekler, sıralar, cetveller, ağaçlar, şehirler, öğretmenler, doktorlar, evler, çantalar, dolaplar, dersler, defterler, ablalar, arabalar, masalar.
Interrogative particle mı
While in English a general yes/no question like Is this a table? is formed using word order and rising intonation, in Turkish, besides intonational means, the interrogative particle mı is also used for a similar question. It has its own phonetic variants (mı, mi, mu, mü) and is written separately from the word. The choice of the phonetic variant of any affix is determined by the law of vowel harmony. Let’s look at it.
Law of vowel harmony
The law of vowel harmony consists of the previously discussed principle of palatal harmony and the principle of labial harmony.
Turkish vowels are divided into unrounded and rounded (labial):
Unrounded are a ı e i
Rounded are o u ö ü
With a normal lip position, unrounded vowels are produced; when the lips are stretched into a tube, rounded vowels are produced.
The essence of the law of vowel harmony is that when attaching affixes to a word, unrounded back vowels a ı can only be followed by an unrounded back vowel, i.e., ı;
unrounded front e i only by the unrounded front i;
rounded back o u only by the rounded back vowel u;
rounded front ö ü only by the rounded front ü.
A → I
E → İ
O → U
Ö → Ü
That is, the quality of the vowel in the last syllable of a word determines the quality of the vowel in the affix.
If the last syllable of the word contains the vowel a or ı, the affix can only contain ı:
Bu, masa mı? - Is this a table?
Bu, atkı mı? - Is this a scarf?
If the last syllable of the word contains the vowel e or i, the affix can only contain i:
Bu, defter mi? - Is this a notebook?
Bu, öğrenci mi? - Is this a student?
If the last syllable of the word contains the vowel o or u, the affix can only contain u:
Bu, doktor mu? - Is this a doctor?
Bu, oğul mu? - Is this a son?
If the last syllable of the word contains the vowel ö or ü, the affix can only contain ü:
Bu, söz mü? - Is this a word?
Bu, müdür mü? - Is this a manager?
E (İ) → İ (Bu, defter mi?)
O (U) → U (Bu, doktor mu?)
Ö (Ü) → Ü (Bu, söz mü?)
Exercise 2.4. Ask a question
Exercise 2.5. Translate into Turkish.
Exercise 2.6. Translate into English.
Bu, gül mü? Bu, aile mi? Bu, söz mü? Bu, kitap mı? Bu, pencere mi? Bu, dolap mı? Bu, şehir mi? öğrenci mi? Bu, ev mi? Bu, araba mı? Bu, mektup mu? Bu, kedi mi? Bu, çanta mı? Bu, yıldız mı? Bu, radyo mu? Bu, oda mı? Bu, oğul mu? Bu, köpek mi? Bu, defter mi? Bu, insan mı?
Negative particle değil
To give a negative answer to a general yes/no question like Is this a table? / No, this is not a table, the negative particle değil is used. This means the English negative particle not corresponds to the invariable Turkish değil, which is placed after the noun.
Bu, masa mı? - Is this a table?
Hayır, bu masa değil. - No, this is not a table.
Law of consonant harmony
All consonants in the Turkish language are divided into voiceless and voiced.
Voiceless: ç f h k p s ş t
Voiced: b c d g ğ j l m n r v y z
The essence of the law of consonant harmony is the assimilation of consonants at the junctions of syllables when attaching affixes based on the voiceless-voiced principle. Thus, if a word ends in a voiceless consonant, the attached affix, if it begins with a consonant, must also begin with a voiceless consonant.
| Çiçek | — çiçek + te | |
| Sınıf | — sınıf + ta | |
| Ağaç | — ağaç + ta | |
| Meydan | — meydan + da | |
| Sahil | — sahil + de |
Voicing of voiceless consonants at the end of words
If a word in Turkish ends with the voiceless consonant p, ç, t, k, when attaching affixes that begin with a vowel, the voiceless consonant changes to the corresponding voiced one.
| p → b | mektup-u | mektubu | ||
| ç → c | borç-u | borcu | ||
| t → d | yoğurt-u tat-ı | yoğurdu tadı | ||
| k → g-ğ * | köpek-i | köpeği |
* k changes to g only if the letter k is preceded by the letter n.
Çelenk → çelengi
Renk → rengi
In all other cases, the transition is k → ğ.
However, there are exceptions in the voicing of voiceless consonants at the end of words. The following do not obey this rule:
- many monosyllabic words: Sap → sapı
Et → eti
Ok → oku
Koç → koçu - loanwords: hukuk, millet, merhamet, gayret
- proper nouns: Turgut → Turgut’a
Exercise 2.7. Apply the change.
The grammar will be explained in the following lessons. This lesson focuses only on the law of vowel and consonant harmony. If something is still unclear to anyone, it will all make sense later. Everything in its own time. You can’t learn a language in a couple of lessons.
Dropping of narrow vowels in word roots
In the roots of disyllabic words (i.e., those consisting of 2 syllables) containing a narrow vowel (ı, i, u, ü) in the second syllable, when an affix beginning with a vowel is added, the corresponding narrow vowel is dropped. (Broad vowels are pronounced with a wide-open mouth, narrow vowels — with a half-closed mouth)
Şehir + i = şehri
Ağız + ı = ağzı
Gönül + ü = gönlü
Such changes are noted in the dictionary.