Turkish vowels presented above are the phonemic representations. In the actual realization of speech, variations of these vowels are used. Compare the way you say the initial vowel of the following words, ‘i¤ne’, ‘inek’. The /i/ in ‘i¤ne’ is more similar to the tense high front vowel of English produced with more spread lips, and more extreme tongue position as opposed to the /i/ in ‘inek’. The /i/ in ‘inek’ is realized as [I], similar to lax high front vowel of English. In Turkish, [i] and [I] are allophones, or variations of the same phoneme /i/. The use of [i] for [I], or the use of [I] for [i] would not change the meaning of words. Thus, the high front unrounded vowel /i/ has two allophones in Turkish as represented below.
This suggests that the occurrence of [i] is restricted to the environment of ‘¤’. [I] occurs in all other environments.
Similarly, high back vowel /u/ has two allophones, [u] and [U]. Compare the words ‘tu¤ra’ and ‘tura’. /u/ in ‘tu¤ra’ is longer, more rounded, and produced with a more extreme tongue position than that of ‘tura’. As with the high front vowel, [u] occurs before ‘¤’ and [U] in other environments. The allophones of /u/ is schematized below.
Mid front vowel /E/ has three allophones. The more commonly used allophone is [E] as in the words ‘eser’, ‘elma’, ‘eksi’. In words such as ‘e¤er’, ‘e¤lence’, ‘de¤il’ /E/ is realized with a ‘j’ glide, thus sounding more like the English [e]. In some dialects, or idiolects, /E/ is realized as [æ] in certain environments as in words such as ‘genç’, ‘Mehmet’ (first ‘e’), ‘mendil’. Consequently, the phoneme /E/ has three allophones as shown below.
One other phoneme that has three allophones is /a/. The allophones of /a/ are [a], [√], [´]. Compare the pronunciation of the two /a/’s in the word ‘masa’. Do you notice the difference in the qualities of the first and the second /a/’s? The first /a/ is a schwa, a very short and almost nondistinctive vowel (Kopkall›-Yavuz,
[i] before ‘¤’ (e.g., i¤de, i¤ne) /i/
[I] elsewhere (e.g., isim, inmek)
[u] before ‘¤’ (e.g., tu¤la, bu¤u) /u/
[U] elsewhere (e.g., turne, buhar)
[e] before ‘¤’ (e.g., e¤er, e¤lence, de¤il) /E/ [Q] speaker-dependent (e.g.,genç, Mehmet)
2000) whereas the second /a/ is more like the English tense mid central vowel [√]. Thus, the allophones of /a/are as follows.
The first allophone [a] is used much less commonly as Turkish has the tendency to centralize all the vowels. Vowels, rather than being realized at extreme points in the vowel space, are approximated more towards the center. The reason may be that there are no distinct phonemes in the central part in Turkish. Thus, a change in the vowel quality would not cause a change in the meaning of words.
Transcribe the following words considering the allophonic variations when necessary. hayat leblebi örümcek istiklal mürekkep 41
Unit 3 - Turkish Vowels
[a] speaker-dependent (e.g., para, kan› ‘very slow vehicle’) /a/ [´] in first syllable (e.g., masa, hal›)
[√] elsewhere (e.g., masa, s›ra)
It is your turn! 1 1 It is your turn! It is your turn! 2 2 It is your turn! It is your turn! 3 3 It is your turn! It is your turn! 4 4 It is your turn! It is your turn! 5 5 It is your turn! It is your turn! 6 6 It is your turn! It is your turn! 7 7 It is your turn! It is your turn! 8 8 It is your turn! It is your turn! 9 9 It is your turn! It is your turn! 10 It is your turn! 10 It is your turn! 11 11 It is your turn! It is your turn! 12 12 It is your turn! It is your turn! 13 13 It is your turn!
Vowels are sounds produced without an obstruction in the vocal tract. As there is no constriction involved in the production of vowels, vowels are described differently than consonants. Turkish vowels are described in terms of height, backness, and rounding. Languages such as English need other parameters to distinguish vowels such as ‘tense-lax’ distinction. Turkish does not distinguish between tense and lax vowels phonemically but lax counterparts are used more widely than tense vowels in Turkish. As there are 8 vowel phonemes in Turkish and the distinction between some vowels is in rounding, there is room for movement in the vowel space. Thus, Turkish vowels have allophones, different realizations of vowels, that are not conditioned by the neighboring sounds or the position within a word. Rather, most of the vowels tend to centralize.
Turkish vowels are described as follows:
height backness rounding
/i/ high front unrounded
/y/ high front rounded
/µ/ high back unrounded
/u/ high back rounded
/E/ mid front unrounded
/ø/ mid front rounded
/o/ mid back rounded
/a/ low central unrounded
/√/ mid central unrounded
43
Unit 3 - Turkish Vowels
1. Which of the following describes the vowel [ø]? a. high front rounded
b. mid back rounded c. mid front rounded d. high back rounded e. mid back unrounded
2.Which of the words contain a mid back rounded
vowel in word initial position?
a. uzman b. ortak c. üzgün d. aray›fl e. endifle
3.What is the symbol corresponding to high front
unrounded vowel? a. i b. E c. µ d. y e. u
4.Which best transcribes the word ‘tu¤ra’? a. tUgr√
b. tuR√ c. tUra d. tUR´ e. tuR´
5.Which of the following is a description of the vowel [y]?
a. high back unrounded b. mid front rounded c. low back rounded d. mid central unrounded e. high front rounded
Self-test
Transcribe the following passage.
Üvey babam Falih R›fk› sayesinde, babam›n yoklu¤unu hiç hissetmedim. O s›rada pek para kazanamad›¤› için, evimize iç güvey geldi¤inde, yan›nda getirdi¤i tek fley, benim için ald›¤› oyuncaklarla dolu küçük bir sand›kt›. Büyüdükten sonra, o sand›¤›n at›lmas›na uzun zaman gönlüm raz› olmad›. Falih R›fk›’n›n üvey baba olarak tek kusuru, beni fazlas›yla fl›martmas›yd› belki. Kardeflim Halil do¤duktan sonra da ben her zaman ön plandayd›m.
From Urgan, Mina. 1998. Bir Dinazorun An›lar›. ‹stanbul: Yap› Kredi Kültür Sanat Yay›nc›l›k. Sayfa 132.
References
Laver, J. 1994. Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fry, D. B. 1979. The Physics of Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Finegan, E. 1994. Language: It’s structure and use. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Ladefoged, P. 1982. A Course in Phonetics. New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.
Kopkall›-Yavuz, H. 2000. Interaction between syllable
structure and vowel length: Example from Turkish /a/. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Turkish Linguistics. Bo¤aziçi Universitesi, A¤ustos 16-18, 2000.
Turkish Alive
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Unit 3 - Turkish Vowels
Vowels are produced without constriction in the vocal tract whereas consanants are produced with a constriction somewhere in the vocal tract.
a) Vowels are described in terms of height, backness, and lip position (rounding).
b) Vowels are described relative to [´]. Height refers to the height of the vocal tract. Backness refers to the position of the highest point of the tonfue body.
a) The three heights are high, mid, low. b) height a low i high E mid µ high ø mid
a) The three degrees of backness are front, central, back. b) backness u back y front µ back a central ø front rounding a unrounded µ unrounded E unrounded y rounded ø rounded
height backness rounding
E mid front unrounded
a low central unrounded
u high back rounded
i high front unrounded
ø mid front rounded
y high front rounded
µ high back unrounded
o mid back rounded
hayat h´j√t
leblebi lEblEbI
örümcek øRymdZEc
istiklal IstIcl√l
mürekkep myREc˘Ep