Vowel Harmony
Wowel harmony in Turkish can be defined as the tendecy for vowels in a word to be similar to the first vowel in that word.
A wovel may be classified according to the shape and position of the organs of speech when making that particular sound. Turkish vowels are classified as follows:
Front vowels are pronounced with the middle of the tongue raised towards the highest part of the palate.
Back vowels are pronounced with the back of the tongue raised towards the soft back part of the palate.
Rounded vowels are produced with rounded, protruded lips.
Unrounded vowels are produced with spread lips touching the front teeth.
High vowels are produced with the tongue closer to the palate, and the opening of the mouth is narrower than for low vowels
Low vowels are produced with the tongue in a lower position and the chin dropped lower than for high vowels.
Vowel harmony results from the natural tendency towards minimising the effort required to pronounce a word. Since to change from, say, an “a” sound to an “ı” sound requires less movement from the organs of speech than to change from “a” to “ü”, it is common for “a” to be followed by “ı” but rare for “a” to be followed by “ü”
If the first vowel in a word is high the following vowels will also be high. If it is low the rest of the vowels in the same word will also be low. That is, all the vowels in a word agree. Some borrowed words break this rule.
Suffixes are also based on vowel harmony rule. Usually the last vowel in the word determines the vowel in the suffix. That is, if the last vowel in a word is high the vowel in the suffix will also be high. If the last vowel in a word is low the vowel in the suffix will also be low.
High vowels ( e – i – ö –ü ) harmony: if the first vowel in a word is one of these high vowels the following vowels will also be one of these high vowels as in examples below:
E İ gece - night serin - serin kedi - cat ince - thin pencere - window merdiven - ladder ekmek - bread bilgi - information defter - notebook iki - two
Ö Ü köpek - dog çünkü - because köprü - bridge küçük - small gözlük - eye-glasses ülke - country öğrenci - student ümit - hope
Low vowels ( a – ı – o – u ) harmony: if the first vowel in a word is one of these low vowels the following vowels will also be one of these low vowels as in examples below:
A I kadın - woman kısa - short hava - weather ıslak - wet kapı - door kalın - thick banyo - bathroom / bath hafıza - memory
O U okul - school dokuz - nine çocuk - child uçak - plane oda - room duvar - wall oyuncak - toy armut - pear
|
Share: |
![]() |
Comments (10) | |
Turkish Dictionary |
---|
Turkish Chat |
---|
New in Forums |
---|
Akşam yemeği versus akşam yemekleri
denizli: I get it now - dinner - akşam yemeği. Sorry. I thought yemek was din... |
Ağriyor versus Aciyor
HaydiDeer: Thank you very much for the ... |
Objects in Turkish
EmreY: You could just as easily say: "her yıl telefon ... The difference... |
Turkish Elections
denizli: Is there any chance for a new Government this election? ... going to b... |
Here again
denizli: Yes, this is a classic site. I learned a lot here! |
Intensive language class in turkey
Mattes: Hi there, I would like to get your opinion. Some years back I did so... |
TLC servers hacked, all user emails & pass...
natiypuspi: Here again! What a nice new! Happy New Year! PS: I want to tell my hea... |
-midir nedir
admin: The closest ... I can think of is "or ... O ... midir nedir -&g... |
Turkish Learning Books
qdemir: are you a new learner or do you want to take your Turkish to the next ... |
Travelling to Turkey - personal experience...
Glovol: Turkey is a great country. |
T-E
Sagredo: Rose Garden Make an effort to get into the rose garden. Because those... |
Random Pictures of Turkey |
---|
Most liked | |
---|---|
![]() |
Pronouns 2
Turkish lesson by admin Level: beginner |
![]() |
Vowel Rules
Turkish lesson by admin Level: beginner |
![]() |
Dost
() Poem by Cahit Külebi |
![]() |
Major Vowel Harmony
Turkish lesson by admin Level: beginner |
![]() |
Pronouns 1
Turkish lesson by admin Level: beginner |
![]() |
To be
Turkish lesson by admin Level: beginner |
![]() |
House and furniture
Turkish lesson by admin Level: beginner |
![]() |
Negatives
Turkish lesson by admin Level: beginner |
![]() |
Present Continuous Tense
Turkish lesson by admin Level: intermediate |
![]() |
Questions
Turkish lesson by admin Level: intermediate |