Turkmen grammar

Turkmen consonant phonemes (shown with the letters of the Turkmen alphabet used to represent them):

Note that s/с and z/з represent /θ/ and /ð/, which are not [s] and [z], a unique feature among the Turkic languages (cf. ceceo in some Spanish dialects).

Turkmen contains both short and long vowels. Doubling the duration of sound for a short vowel is generally how its long vowel counterpart is pronounced. Turkmen employs vowel harmony, a process that is common in fellow Turkic languages. Vowels and their sounds are as follows:

Like other Turkic languages, Turkmen is characterised by vowel harmony. In general, words of native origin consist either entirely of front vowels (inçe çekimli sesler) or entirely of back vowels (ýogyn çekimli sesler). Prefixes and suffixes reflect this harmony, taking different forms depending on the word to which they are attached.

The infinitive form of a verb determines whether it will follow a front vowel harmony or back vowel harmony. Words of foreign origin, mainly Russian, Persian or Arabic, do not follow vowel harmony.

In addition to this backness harmony, progressive rounding harmony is also found in Turkmen, though this is not reflected in the orthography.[2]

Nouns ending in -ç, -k, -p, -t are voiced to -j, -g, -b, and -d. When the noun ends in -e, the accusative, genitive, and dative ending became -äni, -äniň, and -ä. Also notice that dative of vowel-ending nouns has its last letter can being removed and just simply -a or -ä.[3]

Back vowels: The noun sygyr "cow" declined in the six Turkmen cases, with Jenneta's examples of how it would be used for each:

Front Vowels: The proper noun Jeren (a woman's name) declined in the six Turkmen cases, with examples of how it would be used for each:

Future certain, intentional, and obligational are does not inflect for person. Fusion also shown in spoken Turkmen, for example spoken -ýän for standard -ýärin.[3]

In additional to main imperatives, these imperative forms are somewhat more complex:

• 1st plural imperative (two people): -(a)ly/(e)li
• Informal polite: -sana/sene
• Formal polite:
  • Request: -(y)p/(i)p + bersene
  • Command: -saňyzlaň/-seňizläň

• Passive: -yl/-il; -ul/-ül; -l
• Reflexive: -yn/-in; -un/-ün; -n
• Reciprocal: -yş/-iş; -uş/-üş; -ş
• Causative: -dyr/-dir; -dur/-dür; -yr/-ir; -ur/-ür; -uz/-üz; -ar/-er; -der/-dar; -t

Evidentiality of a reported event is determined by four markers, affixed to the finite verb, roughly:

• -dY (direct evidence)
• -(Y)p-dYr (hearsay)
• -dYr-mY-näm (indirect evidence)
• -mYş (rumoured that)

Here Y represents the close vowel conforming to vowel harmony.

Some independent particles may be said to convey evidentiality: one such word is the particle eken.

1. Aman syrkawla-p-dyr.

Aman become sick-EV-COP
           (I heard that) Aman is sick.(information is "hearsay")

Compare 1 with 2.a and 2.b:

2.a. Aman syrkawla-dy.

Aman  become sick-3sPAST

2.b. Aman syrkaw.

Aman sick.
                Aman is sick. (speaker has spoken with Aman)

3. Maral Aşgabat-dan gel-ip-dir.

 Maral Ashgabat-ABL come-EV-COP
                (I heard that) Maral came from Ashgabat.
 

4. Ben sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i iý-di.

 Ben you-GEN  cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC eat-3spast
      Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker saw Ben eat the cookies (direct evidence).

ii. Ben told the speaker that he ate the cookies.

5. Ben sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i iý-ip-dir.

 Ben you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC eat-EV-COP
       Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker heard from someone else that Ben ate the cookies (hearsay).

ii. Generally, the speaker learned through means other than 4.i and 4.ii that Ben ate the cookies.

6.a. Ben iý-ip-dir-mikä(n) sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i.

 Ben eat-EV-COP-EV you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC
         Ben ate your cookies, or more loosely: I wonder if Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker saw evidence of the action, i.e. crumbs, and "made the connection." (informant's account)

ii. The speaker "doesn't concretely know [Ben] ate them." (informant's account)

iii. In the words of the informant: "I am questioning myself. But it's not a question."

iv. In other words: a deduction from indirect evidence, a suspicion

6.b. Men (...) iý-ip-dir-in-mikäm?

  I    (...)   eat-EV-1sPRES(?)-EV
           Did I eat something?

i. The speaker questions whether or not s/he has performed an action.

ii. Evidence of the particular action may be direct, however the nature of its complement (i.e. an item of food) may be in doubt.

7. Ben iý-en-miş sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i.

 Ben eat-PART be-RUM  you-GEN     cookie-PL-2sPOSS-ACC
       It is rumoured that Ben ate your cookies.

i. The action has been passed on via several speakers, or gossiped, similar to in the English gloss.

• Note the postposed complement in 7. A tree of 7 would look something like {(Ben [{(the one who ate [ti])} must be]) [your cookies]i } using different brackets only in order to make the nesting more obvious.
• In 6.a., the verb appears in the form iý-ip-dir-minäm. I've analyzed the final two syllables as one evidential particle, glossed as EV. This follows partly from the intuitions of the informant, and partly from the consistence: it always appears as -minäm. Nonetheless, it could also be glossed as ...eat-EV-COP-INT-what..., something like, literally, Did Ben eat your cookies, or what?'

One way to express negation in Turkmen is with the predicative adjective ýok, which indicates absence.

Onuň maşyny ýok.

3sg car-GEN NEGV

'He does not have a car.'

Öýde Amandan başga adam ýok.

houseLOC AmanINST except person NEGV

'There is no one but Aman in the house.'

The phonetically similar suffix -ok is another option: it attaches to the verb which it negates. It comes after the stem and before the tense suffix. -Ok does not modify its form due to vowel harmony. In addition to -ok there is another suffix -me or -ma. It appears that -mV is used when dealing with one event and -ok for more habitual or lasting states:

Men bilemok. 'I don't know.'

Men bilemokdym. 'I didn't know (for a long time).'

Men bilmedim. 'I didn't know (on one occasion).'

(These correspond to the positive forms Men bilyärin, Men bilyärdim and Men bildim.)

Ol ajyganok.

3sg to hunger-GERUND-NEG

Literally *'He is not hungering'; in grammatical English, 'He is not hungry.' (cf. däl construction below)

Speakers of Eastern dialects of Turkmen, influenced by Uzbek, are less likely to utilise the -ok suffix.

Yet another way of expressing negation is by the negative particle däl.

Men şu kitaby okamaly däl.

1sg this book-ACC read-OBLIG NEG

I do not have to read this book. or, I should not read this book. (sentence elicited for the latter meaning)

Ol aç däl.

3sg hungry NEG (note the lack of copula)

He is not hungry.

Kofe gyzgyn bolup biler.

The coffee might be hot.

Kofe gyzgyn däl bolup biler.

The coffee might not be hot.

Kofe gyzgyn dälmi?

Isn't the coffee hot?

There is not an equivalent in Turkmen to the English prefix 'un-'. That is, one can't simply attach an affix to a verb to indicate the opposite action, as in wrap the present → unwrap the present.

It appears that different tenses use different forms of negation, as in the following sentences:

Men ylgamok.

I am not running. (present)

Men ylgamadym.

I did not run. (past)

Men ylgajak däl.

I will not run. (definite future)