Turkish phonology

Because of assimilation, an initial voiced consonant of a suffix is devoiced when the word it is attached to ends in a voiceless consonant. For example,

• the locative of şev (slope) is şevde (on the slope), but şef (chef) has locative şefte;
• the diminutive of ad (name) is adcık [adˈd͡ʒɯk] ('little name'), but at ('horse') has diminutive atçık [atˈt͡ʃɯk] ('little horse').

With some exceptions, native Turkish words follow a system of vowel harmony, meaning that they incorporate either exclusively back vowels (/a, ɯ, o, u/) or exclusively front vowels (/e, i, œ, y/), as, for example, in the words karanlıktaydılar ('they were in the dark') and düşünceliliklerinden ('due to their thoughtfulness'). /o ø/ only occur in the initial syllable.

The Turkish vowel system can be considered as being three-dimensional, where vowels are characterised by three features: front/back, rounded/unrounded, and high/low, resulting in eight possible combinations, each corresponding to one Turkish vowel, as shown in the table.

Vowel harmony of grammatical suffixes is realized through "a chameleon-like quality",[15] meaning that the vowels of suffixes change to harmonize with the vowel of the preceding syllable. According to the changeable vowel, there are two patterns:

• twofold (/e/~/a/):[note 3] Backness is preserved, that is, /e/ appears following a front vowel and /a/ appears following a back vowel. For example, the locative suffix is -de after front vowels and -da after back vowels. The notation -de² is shorthand for this pattern.
• fourfold (/i/~/y/~/ɯ/~/u/): Both backness and rounding are preserved. For example, the genitive suffix is -in after unrounded front vowels, -ün after rounded front vowels, -ın after unrounded back vowels, and -un after rounded back vowels. The notation -in⁴ can be this pattern's shorthand.

The vowel /ø/ does not occur in grammatical suffixes. In the isolated case of /o/ in the verbal progressive suffix -i⁴yor it is immutable, breaking the vowel harmony such as in yürüyor ('[he/she/it] is walking'). -iyor stuck because it derived from a former compounding "-i yorı".[note 4]

Some examples illustrating the use of vowel harmony in Turkish with the copula -dir⁴ ('[he/she/it] is'):

• Türkiye'dir ('it is Turkey') – with an apostrophe because Türkiye is a proper noun.
• gündür ('it is the day')
• kapıdır ('it is the door')
• paltodur ('it is the coat').

Compound words do not undergo vowel harmony in their constituent words as in bugün ('today'; from bu, 'this', and gün, 'day') and başkent ('capital'; from baş, 'prime', and kent, 'city') unless it is specifically derived that way. Vowel harmony does not usually apply to loanword roots and some invariant suffixes, such as and -ken ('while ...-ing'). In the suffix -e²bil ('may' or 'can'), only the first vowel undergoes vowel harmony. The suffix -ki ('belonging to ...') is mostly invariant, except in the words bugünkü ('today's') and dünkü ('yesterday's').

There are a few native Turkish words that do not have vowel harmony such as anne ('mother'). In such words, suffixes harmonize with the final vowel as in annedir ('she is a mother'). Also suffixes added to foreign borrowings and proper nouns usually harmonize their vowel with the syllable immediately preceding the suffix: Amsterdam'da ('in Amsterdam'), Paris'te ('in Paris').

In most words, consonants are neutral or transparent and have no effect on vowel harmony. In borrowed vocabulary, however, back vowel harmony can be interrupted by the presence of a "front" (i.e. coronal or labial) consonant, and in rarer cases, front vowel harmony can be reversed by the presence of a "back" consonant.

For example, Arabic and French loanwords containing back vowels may nevertheless end in a clear [l] instead of a velarized [ɫ]. Harmonizing suffixes added to such words contain front vowels.[16] The table above gives some examples.

Arabic loanwords ending in ⟨k⟩ usually take front-vowel suffixes if the origin is kāf, but back-vowel suffixes if the origin is qāf: e.g. idrak-i ('perception' acc. from إدراك idrāk) vs. fevk-ı ('top' acc. from ← فوق fawq). Loanwords ending in ⟨at⟩ derived from Arabic tāʼ marbūṭah take front-vowel suffixes: e.g. saat-e ('hour' dat. from ساعة sāʿa^t), seyahat-e ('trip' dat. from سياحة siyāḥa^t). Words ending in ⟨at⟩ derived from the Arabic feminine plural ending -āt or from devoicing of Arabic dāl take the expected back-vowel suffixes: e.g. edebiyat-ı ('literature' acc. from أدبيّات adabiyyāt), maksat, maksadı ('purpose', nom. and acc. from مقصد maqṣad).[17]

Front-vowel suffixes are also used with many Arabic monosyllables containing ⟨a⟩ followed by two consonants, the second of which is a front consonant: e.g. harfi ('letter' acc.), harp/harbi ('war', nom. and acc.). Some combinations of consonants give rise to vowel insertion, and in these cases the epenthetic vowel may also be front vowel: e.g. vakit ('time') and vakti ('time' acc.) from وقت waqt; fikir ('idea') and fikri (acc.) from فِكْر fikr.[18]

There is a tendency to eliminate these exceptional consonantal effects and to apply vowel harmony more regularly, especially for frequent words and those whose foreign origin is not apparent.[19] For example, the words rahat ('comfort') and sanat ('art') take back-vowel suffixes, even though they derive from Arabic tāʼ marbūṭah.

Although most treatments of Turkish refer to the word-accent as "stress", some scholars consider it a kind of pitch accent.[22] Underhill (1986) writes that stress in Turkish "is actually pitch accent rather than dynamic stress."[23] An acoustic study, Levi (2005), agrees with this assessment, concluding that though duration and intensity of the accented syllable are significant, the most reliable cue to accent-location is the pitch of the vowel.[24] In its word-accent, therefore, Turkish "bears a great similarity with other pitch-accent languages such as Japanese, Basque, and Serbo-Croatian".[24] Similarly, Özcelik (2016), noting the difference in phonetic realisation between final and non-final accent, proposes that "Final accent in Turkish is not 'stress', but is formally a boundary tone."[25] According to this analysis therefore, only words with non-final accent are accented, and all other words are accentless.

However, not all researchers agree with this conclusion. Kabak (2016) writes: "Finally stressed words do not behave like accentless words and there is no unequivocal evidence that the language has a pitch-accent system."

A non-final accent is generally pronounced with a relatively high pitch followed by a fall in pitch on the following syllable. The syllables preceding the accent may either be slightly lower than the accented syllable or on a plateau with it.[26] In words like sözcükle ('with a word'), where the first and third syllable are louder than the second, it is nonetheless the second syllable which is considered to have the accent, because it is higher in pitch, and followed by a fall in pitch.[27]

However, the accent can disappear in certain circumstances; for example, when the word is the second part of a compound, e.g. çoban salatası ('shepherd salad'), from salata, or Litvanya lokantası ('Lithuania(n) restaurant'), from lokanta.[28] In this case only the first word is accented.

If the accented vowel is final, it is often slightly higher in pitch than the preceding syllable;[29] but in some contexts or with some speakers there is no rise in pitch.[30][31][32]

In addition to the accent on words, intonational tones can also be heard in Turkish. One of these is a rising boundary tone, which is a sharp rise in pitch frequently heard at the end of a phrase, especially on the last syllable of the topic of a sentence.[33] The phrase ondan sonra↑ ('after that,...'), for example, is often pronounced with a rising boundary tone on the last syllable (indicated here by an arrow).

Another intonational tone, heard in yes-no questions, is a high tone or intonational pitch-accent on the syllable before the particle mi/mu, e.g. Bu elmalar taze mi? ('Are these apples fresh?'). This tone tends to be much higher in pitch than the normal word-accent.[34]

A raised pitch is also used in Turkish to indicate focus (the word containing the important information being conveyed to the listener). "Intonation ... may override lexical pitch in Turkish".[35]

As stated above, word-final accent is the usual pattern in Turkish:

• elma ('apple')
• evler ('houses')

When a non-preaccenting suffix is added, the accent moves to the suffix:

• elmalar ('apples')[36]
• evlerden ('from the houses')

Among the suffixes which do not add any accent to the word are the possessive suffixes -im (my), -in (your) etc.:

• arkadaşlarım ('my friends')[37]
• kızlarımız ('our daughters')

Non-final accent in Turkish words is generally caused by the addition of certain suffixes to the word. Some of these (always of two syllables, such as -iyor) are accented themselves; others put an accent on the syllable which precedes them.

These include the following:[38]

• -iyor (continuous): geliyor ('he is coming'), geliyordular ('they were coming')
• -erek/-arak ('by'): gelerek ('by coming')
• -ince ('when'): gelince ('when he comes')
• -iver ('suddenly', 'quickly'): gidiverecek ('he will quickly go')[39]

Note that since a focus word frequently precedes a verb (see below), causing any following accent to be neutralised, these accents on verbs can often not be heard.

Among the pre-accenting suffixes are:

• -me-/-ma- (negative), e.g. korkma! ('don't be afraid!'), gelmedim ('I did not come').

  The pre-accenting is also seen in combination with -iyor: gelmiyor ('he/she/it does not come').

  However, in the aorist tense the negative is stressed: sönmez ('it will never cease').

• -le/-la ('with'): öfkeyle ('with anger, angrily')
• -ce/-ca ('-ish'): Türkçe ('Turkish')
• -ki ('that which belongs to'): benimki ('my one')[40]

The following, though written separately, are pronounced as if pre-accenting suffixes, and the stress on the final syllable of the preceding word is more pronounced than usual:

• de/da ('also', 'even'): elmalar da ('even apples')
• mi/mu (interrogative): elmalar mı? ('apples?')

Less commonly found pre-accenting suffixes are -leyin (during) and -sizin (without), e.g. akşamleyin (in the evening), gelmeksizin (without coming).[41]

Suffixes meaning 'is' or 'was' added to nouns, adjectives or participles, and which act like a copula, are pre-accenting:.[42]

• hastaydı ('he/she/it was ill')
• çocuklar ('they are children')
• Mustafa'dır ('it's Mustafa')
• öğrenciysem ('if I am a student')

Copular suffixes are also pre-accenting when added to the following participles: future (-ecek/-acak), aorist (-er/-or), and obligation (-meli):[43]

• gidecektiler ('they would go')
• saklanırdınız ('you used to hide yourself')
• bulurum ('I find')
• gidersin ('you go')
• gitmeliler ('they ought to go')[44]

Often at the end of a sentence the verb is unaccented, with all the syllables on the same pitch. Suffixes such as -di and -se/-sa are not pre-accenting if they are added directly to the verb stem:

• gitti ('he/she/it went')
• gitse ('if he goes')

This accentual pattern can disambiguate homographic words containing possessive suffixes or the plural suffix:[45]

• benim ('it's me'), vs. benim ('my')
• çocuklar ('they are children'), vs. çocuklar ('children')

Compound nouns are usually accented on the first element only. Any accent on the second element is lost:[46]

• başbakan ('prime minister')
• başkent ('capital city')

The same is true of compound and intensive adjectives:[47]

• sütbeyaz ('milk white')
• masmavi ('very blue')

Some compounds, however, are accented on the final, for example those of the form verb-verb or subject-verb:[48]

• uyurgezer ('sleep-walker')
• hünkarbeğendi ('lamb served on aubergine purée', lit. 'the sultan liked it')

Remaining compounds have Sezer-type accent on whole word. Compound numerals are accented like one word or separately depending on speaker.

Certain adverbs take initial accent:[49]

• nerede? ('where?'), nereye? ('where to?'), nasıl ('how?'), hangi? ('which?')
• yarın ('tomorrow'), sonra ('afterwards'), şimdi ('now'), yine ('again')

Certain adverbs ending in -en/-an have penultimate accent unless they end in a cretic (– u x) rhythm, thus following the Sezer rule (see below):

• iktisa:den ('economically')
• tekeffülen ('by surety')

Some kinship terms are irregularly accented on the first syllable:[50]

• anne ('mother'), teyze ('maternal aunt'), hala ('paternal aunt'), dayı ('maternal uncle'), amca ('paternal uncle'), kardeş ('brother/sister'), kayın ('in-law')

When two pre-accenting suffixes are added to a word with a non-final accent, only the first accent is pronounced:[39]

• Türkçe de ('Turkish also')
• Ankara'daydı ('he was in Ankara')

However, the accent preceding the negative -ma-/-me- may take precedence over an earlier accent:[51]

• Avrupalılaşmalı ('needing to become Europeanised')
• Avrupalılaşmamalı ('needing not to become Europeanised')

In the following pair also, the accent shifts from the object to the position before the negative:[52]

• Ali iskambil oynadı ('Ali played cards')
• Ali iskambil oynamadı ('Ali didn't play cards')

However, even the negative suffix accent may disappear if the focus is elsewhere. Thus in sentences of the kind "not A but B", the element B is focussed, while A loses its accent. Kabak (2001) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFKabak2001 (help) gives a pitch track of the following sentence, in which the only tone on the first word is a rising boundary tone on the last syllable -lar:[53]

• Yorulmuyorlar↑, eğleniyorlardı ('They weren't getting tired, they were having fun').

In the second word, eğleniyorlardı, the highest pitch is on the syllable eğ and the accent on the suffix -iyor- almost entirely disappears.

Place names usually follow a different accentual pattern, known in the linguistics literature as "Sezer stress" (after the discoverer of the pattern, Engin Sezer).[54] According to this rule, place names that have a heavy syllable (CVC) in the antepenultimate position, followed by a light syllable (CV) in penultimate position (that is, those ending with a cretic _¯ ˘ ¯ or dactylic _¯ ˘ ˘ rhythm), have a fixed antepenultimate stress:

• Marmaris, Mercimek, İskenderun
• Ankara, Sirkeci, Torbalı, Kayseri

Most other place names have a fixed penultimate stress:

• İstanbul, Erzincan, Antalya, Edirne
• Adana, Yalova, Bakacak, Göreme
• İzmir, Bodrum, Bebek, Konya, Sivas

Some exceptions to the Sezer stress rule have been noted:[55]

(a) Many foreign place names, as well as some Turkish names of foreign origin, have fixed penultimate stress, even when they have cretic rhythm:

• Afrika, İngiltere ('England'), Meksika ('Mexico'), Belçika ('Belgium'), Avrupa ('Europe')
• Üsküdar ('Scutari'), Bergama ('Pergamon')

But Moskova ('Moscow') has Sezer stress.[56]

(b) Names ending in -iye have antepenultimate stress:

• Sultaniye, Ahmediye, Süleymaniye

(c) Names ending in -hane, -istan, -lar, -mez and some others have regular final (unfixed) stress:

• Hindistan ('India'), Bulgaristan ('Bulgaria'), Moğolistan ('Mongolia'), Yunanistan ('Greece')
• Kağıthane, Gümüşhane
• Işıklar, Söylemez
• Anadolu (but also Anadolu),[49][57] Sultanahmet, Mimarsinan

(d) Names formed from common words which already have a fixed accent retain the accent in the same place:

• Sütlüce (from sütlüce 'milky')

(e) Compounds (other than those listed above) are generally accented on the first element:

• Fenerbahçe, Gaziantep, Eskişehir, Kastamonu
• Çanakkale, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakır, Saimbeyli
• Kuşadası, Kandilli caddesi ('Kandilli street'), Karadeniz ('the Black Sea')[58]

(f) Other exceptions:

• Kuleli, Kınalı, Rumeli

As with all other words, names which are accented on the penultimate or antepenultimate retain the stress in the same place even when pre-accenting suffixes are added, while those accented on the final syllable behave like other final-accented words:.[56][59]

• Ankara > Ankara'dan ('from Ankara') > Ankara'dan mı? ('from Ankara?')
• Işıklar > Işıklar'dan ('from Işıklar') > Işıklar'dan mı? ('from Işıklar?')

Turkish personal names, unlike place names, have final accent:[49]

• Hüseyin, Ahmet, Abdurrahman, Mustafa, Ayşe.

When the speaker is calling someone by their name, the accent may sometimes move up:[60]

• Ahmet, gel buraya! ('Ahmet, come here!').

Ordinary words also have a different accent in the vocative:[50]

• Öğretmenim,...! ('My teacher...!'), Efendim ('Sir!')

Some surnames have non-final stress:

• Erdoğan,[61] Erbakan,[62] İnönü,[63] Atatürk (compound)[64]

Others have regular stress:

• Pamuk, Hikmet

Foreign surnames tend to be accented on the penultimate syllable, regardless of the accent in the original language:[65]

• Kenedi, Papadopulos, Vaşington, Odipus ('Oedipus')
• Ayzınhover ('Eisenhower'), Pitolemi ('Ptolemy'), Mendelson ('Mendelssohn')
• Mandela[56]

The majority of foreign words in Turkish, especially most of those from Arabic, have normal final stress:

• kitap ('book'), dünya ('world'), rahat ('comfortable')

The same is true of some more recent borrowings from western languages:[66]

• fotokopi ('photocopy'), istimbot ('steamboat')

On the other hand, many other foreign words follow the Sezer rules.[67] So words with a dactylic or cretic ending ( _¯ ˘ * ) often have antepenultimate accent:

• pencere ('window'), manzara ('scenery'), şevrole ('Chevrolet'), karyola ('bedframe')

Those with other patterns accordingly have penultimate accent:

• lokanta ('restaurant'), atölye ('workshop'), madalya ('medal'), masa ('table'), çanta ('bag')
• kanepe ('couch'), sinema ('cinema'), manivela ('lever'), çikolata ('chocolate')
• tornavida ('screwdriver'), fakülte ('college faculty'), jübile ('jubilee'), gazete ('newspaper').[68]

Some have irregular stress, though still either penultimate or antepenultimate:

• negatif ('negative'), acaba ('one wonders')[60]
• fabrika ('factory')

The accent on these last is not fixed, but moves to the end when non-preaccenting suffixes are added, e.g. istimbotlar ('steamboats'). However, words with non-final accent keep the accent in the same place, e.g. masalar ('tables').

The accent in phrases where one noun qualifies another is exactly the same as that of compound nouns. That is, the first noun usually retains its accent, and the second one loses it:[69]

• çoban salatası ('shepherd salad') (from salata)
• Litvanya lokantası ('Lithuania(n) restaurant') (from lokanta)
• Galata köprüsü ('the Galata bridge')

The same is true when an adjective or numeral qualifies a noun:[47][70]

• kırmızı çanta ('the red bag') (from çanta)
• yüz yıl ('a hundred years')

The same is also true of prepositional phrases:[71]

• kapıya doğru ('towards the door')
• ondan sonra ('after that')
• her zamanki gibi ('as on every occasion')

An indefinite object or focussed definite object followed by a positive verb is also accented exactly like a compound, with an accent on the object only, not the verb[72]

• telefon ettiler ('they telephoned')[73]
• köpek besliyorum ('I have (lit. feed) a dog'), with deaccentuation of besliyorum.[71]

Focus also plays a part in the accentuation of subject and verb. Thus in the first sentence below, the focus (the important information which the speaker wishes to communicate) is on "a man", and only the first word has an accent while the verb is accentless; in the second sentence the focus is on "came", which has the stronger accent:[74]

• adam geldi ('a man came')
• adam geldi ('the man came')

When there are several elements in a Turkish sentence, the focussed word is often placed before the verb and has the strongest accent:.[75][76]

• Ankara'dan dün babam geldi. ('My father came from Ankara yesterday')
• Babam Ankara'dan dün geldi. ('My father came from Ankara yesterday')

For the same reason, a question-word such as kim ('who?') is placed immediately before the verb:[77]

• Bu soruyu kim çözecek? ('Who will solve this question?')