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Turkish Alphabet & Pronunciation

The Latin-based Turkish alphabet, special letters, vowel sounds, and pronunciation rules
Vowel harmony: four-way suffix alternation
complete system of four suffix vowels e/a and i/ı/u/ü
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Two-way e/a harmony + four-way i/ı/u/ü harmony for different suffix types
Exceptions to vowel harmony
loanwords and some native words that break harmony
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Anne (mother), kardeş (sibling), hangi (which) -- exceptions must be memorized
Consonant harmony: voicing assimilation
suffixes voice-assimilate to final consonant
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-da/-ta, -den/-ten, -di/-ti all assimilate to final consonant voicing
Buffer consonants: y, n, s
each appears in specific morphological environments
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Y before vowel suffixes on vowel-final stems; n in possessive+case combinations
Stem alternations: final consonant softening
p/ç/k/t → b/c/ğ/d before vowel suffixes
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Kitap → kitabı; ağaç → ağacı; renk → rengi; kanat → kanadı
Stem alternations: vowel dropping
high vowels in penultimate syllable drop before vowel suffix
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Burun → burnu; isim → ismi; seyir → seyri; kadir → kadri
Reduplication for emphasis
full or partial reduplication of adjectives
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Kıpkırmızı = bright red; simsiyah = jet black; bembeyaz = snow white
Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
words that imitate sounds
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Miyavlamak (to meow), havlamak (to bark), şırıl şırıl (babbling of water)
Word formation: -lık/-lik suffix
creates nouns meaning place or state of
-luhk/-leek
Kitaplık = bookcase/library; güzellik = beauty; öğretmenlik = teaching profession
Word formation: -ci/-cı/-cu/-cü
creates agent/occupation nouns
-jee/-juh/-joo/-jew
Araba + cı = arabacı (coachman); kitap + çı = kitapçı (bookseller)