Turkish language - Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Turkish_language

Turkish language
Turkish (Türkçe ( listen), Türk d!l!), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (Türkiye
Türkçesi), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million
speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant smaller
groups of Turkish speakers also exist in Iraq, Syria, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, North
Macedonia,[15] Greece,[16] the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia.
Cyprus has requested the European Union to add Turkish as an official language, even
though Turkey is not a member state.[17] Turkish is the 13th most spoken language in the
world.

1:20

A Turkish speaker from Kosovo.

To the west, the influence of Ottoman Turkish—the variety of the Turkish language that was
used as the administrative and literary language of the Ottoman Empire—spread as the
Ottoman Empire expanded. In 1928, as one of Atatürk's Reforms in the early years of the
Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Turkish alphabet was replaced with a Latin alphabet.

The distinctive characteristics of the Turkish language are vowel harmony and extensive
agglutination. The basic word order of Turkish is subject–object–verb. Turkish has no noun
classes or grammatical gender. The language makes usage of honorifics and has a strong
T–V distinction which distinguishes varying levels of politeness, social distance, age,
courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural second-person pronoun and verb
forms are used referring to a single person out of respect.

Classification

Turkish is a member of the Oghuz group of the Turkic family. Other members include
Azerbaijani, spoken in Azerbaijan and north-west Iran, Gagauz of Gagauzia, Qashqai of
south Iran and the Turkmen of Turkmenistan.[18]

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Classification of the Turkic languages is

complicated. The migrations of the Turkic
Turkish
peoples and their consequent intermingling Türkçe (noun, adverb)
with one another and with peoples who Türk dili (noun)
spoke non-Turkic languages, have created a
linguistic situation of vast complexity.[18]

There is ongoing debate about whether the

Türkçe written in the Turkish alphabet
Turkic family is itself a branch of a larger
Altaic family, including Japanese, Korean, Pronunciation Türkçe: [ˈtyɾctʃe]
( listen)
Mongolian and Tungusic.[19] The
Türk dili: Turkish
nineteenth-century Ural-Altaic theory, pronunciation: [ˈtyɾc
which grouped Turkish with Finnish, ˈdili]

Hungarian and Altaic languages, is Native to Turkey (official),

controversial.[20] The theory was based Northern Cyprus
(official), Cyprus
mostly on the fact these languages share (official),
three features: agglutination, vowel Azerbaijan, Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon,
harmony and lack of grammatical
Greece, Bulgaria,
gender.[20] Romania, Kosovo,
North Macedonia,
Bosnia and
History Herzegovina

Region Anatolia, Balkans,

Cyprus,
Mesopotamia,
Levant,
Transcaucasia

Ethnicity Turks

Speakers Native: 82
million (2006)[1]
The 10th-century Irk Bitig or "Book L2: 5.9 million
of Divination" (2019)[1]

The earliest known Old Turkic inscriptions Language family Turkic

• Common Turkic
are the three monumental Orkhon ◦ Oghuz
▪ Western Oghuz
inscriptions found in modern Mongolia. ▪ Turkish
Erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin
Early forms Old Anatolian
and his brother Emperor Bilge Khagan, Turkish
• Ottoman Turkish
these date back to the Second Turkic

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Standard forms Istanbul Turkish

Dialects Cypriot Turkish

Iraqi Turkmen
Karamanli Turkish
Meskhetian
Turkish[2]
Rumelian Turkish
Syrian Turkish[3]

Writing system Latin (Turkish

alphabet)
Turkish Braille

Official status

Official language in Cyprus

Northern Cyprus
Turkey

Recognised minority Bosnia[4]

language in Croatia[5][6]
Greece[7]
Iraq[8][a]
Kosovo[8][b]
North
Macedonia[8][c]
Romania[8][14]

Regulated by Turkish Language

Association

Language codes

ISO 639-1 tr (https://

www.loc.gov/s
tandards/iso6
39-2/php/lang
codes_name.ph
p?iso_639_1=t
r)

ISO 639-2 tur (http

s://www.loc.g
ov/standards/
iso639-2/php/
langcodes_nam
e.php?code_ID
=464)

ISO 639-3 tur

Glottolog nucl1301 (ht

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Glottolog nucl1301 (ht

tp://glottolo
g.org/resourc
e/languoid/id
/nucl1301)

Linguasphere part of 44-

AAB-a

   Countries where Turkish is an official

language
   Countries where Turkish is recognised
as a minority language
   Countries where Turkish is recognised
as a minority language and co-official in at
least one municipality

Khaganate (dated 682–744 CE).[21] After the discovery and excavation of these
monuments and associated stone slabs by Russian archaeologists in the wider area
surrounding the Orkhon Valley between 1889 and 1893, it became established that the
language on the inscriptions was the Old Turkic language written using the Old Turkic
alphabet, which has also been referred to as "Turkic runes" or "runiform" due to a
superficial similarity to the Germanic runic alphabets.[22]

With the Turkic expansion during Early Middle Ages (c. 6th–11th centuries), peoples
speaking Turkic languages spread across Central Asia, covering a vast geographical region
stretching from Siberia all the way to Europe and the Mediterranean. The Seljuqs of the
Oghuz Turks, in particular, brought their language, Oghuz—the direct ancestor of today's
Turkish language—into Anatolia during the 11th century.[23] Also during the 11th century, an
early linguist of the Turkic languages, Mahmud al-Kashgari from the Kara-Khanid Khanate,
published the first comprehensive Turkic language dictionary and map of the geographical
distribution of Turkic speakers in the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk (‫)دﯾوان ﻟﻐﺎت اﻟﺗرك‬.[24]

Ottoman Turkish

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The 15th century Book of Dede

Korkut

Following the adoption of Islam c. 950 by the Kara-Khanid Khanate and the Seljuq Turks,
who are both regarded as the ethnic and cultural ancestors of the Ottomans, the
administrative language of these states acquired a large collection of loanwords from
Arabic and Persian. Turkish literature during the Ottoman period, particularly Divan poetry,
was heavily influenced by Persian, including the adoption of poetic meters and a great
quantity of imported words. The literary and official language during the Ottoman Empire
period (c. 1299–1922) is termed Ottoman Turkish, which was a mixture of Turkish, Persian,
and Arabic that differed considerably and was largely unintelligible to the period's
everyday Turkish. The everyday Turkish, known as kaba Türkçe or "vulgar Turkish", spoken
by the less-educated lower and also rural members of society, contained a higher
percentage of native vocabulary and served as basis for the modern Turkish language.[25]

While visiting the region between Adıyaman and Adana, Evliya Çelebi recorded the
"Turkman language" and compared it with his own Turkish:

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Comparison of 17th-century Southern Anatolian Turkman, 17th-century elite, and modern

standard Turkish dialects[26]

Turkman Ottoman Modern Turkman Ottoman Modern

English English
language Turkish Turkish language Turkish Turkish

yalvaç peygamber peygamber prophet fakı imâm imam imam

yüce mighty
Âli Allah yüce Allah eyne câmi' cami mosque
Çalap God

bread,
gümeç, ekmek,
mezgit mescid mescit masjid ekmek lavash
lavâşa, pişi lavaş, pişi
boortsog

Where
Nerede
kekremsi şarâb şarap wine Kancarıdaydın Neredeydin? were
idin?
you?

Nereye Nereye Where Will you

Kancarı Muhıdı geyen Ferâce Ferace giyer
gidersin gidersin are you wear
yılıgan be mi giyermisin misin?
bire? bre? going? ferace

My They
Bargım Karnım Karnım şehirli
stomach şarıkdı Şehirli oldu. became
yavıncıdı ağrıdı ağrıdı. oldu
hurt. urban.

Language reform and modern Turkish

After the foundation of the modern state of Turkey and the script reform, the Turkish
Language Association (TDK) was established in 1932 under the patronage of Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk, with the aim of conducting research on Turkish. One of the tasks of the
newly established association was to initiate a language reform to replace loanwords of
Arabic and Persian origin with Turkish equivalents.[27] By banning the usage of imported
words in the press, the association succeeded in removing several hundred foreign words
from the language. While most of the words introduced to the language by the TDK were
newly derived from Turkic roots, it also opted for reviving Old Turkish words which had not
been used for centuries.[28] In 1935, the TDK published a bilingual Ottoman-Turkish/Pure
Turkish dictionary that documents the results of the language reform.[29]

Owing to this sudden change in the language, older and younger people in Turkey started

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to differ in their vocabularies. While the generations born before the 1940s tend to use the
older terms of Arabic or Persian origin, the younger generations favor new expressions. It is
considered particularly ironic that Atatürk himself, in his lengthy speech to the new
Parliament in 1927, used a style of Ottoman which sounded so alien to later listeners that it
had to be "translated" three times into modern Turkish: first in 1963, again in 1986, and
most recently in 1995.[30]

The past few decades have seen the continuing work of the TDK to coin new Turkish words
to express new concepts and technologies as they enter the language, mostly from
English. Many of these new words, particularly information technology terms, have
received widespread acceptance. However, the TDK is occasionally criticized for coining
words which sound contrived and artificial. Some earlier changes—such as bölem to
replace fırka, "political party"—also failed to meet with popular approval (fırka has been
replaced by the French loanword part!). Some words restored from Old Turkic have taken
on specialized meanings; for example bet!k (originally meaning "book") is now used to
mean "script" in computer science.[31]

Some examples of modern Turkish words and the old loanwords are:

Ottoman Modern English

Comments
Turkish Turkish translation

Compound of the noun üç ("three") and the

müselles üçgen triangle
suffix -gen

Derived from the verb uçmak ("to fly"). The word

tayyare uçak aeroplane
was first proposed to mean "airport".

The old word is still used in the language today

nispet oran ratio together with the new one. The modern word is
from the Old Turkic verb or- ("to cut").

Derived from the Old Turkic noun kuz ("cold and

şimal kuzey north dark place", "shadow"). The word is restored
from Middle Turkic usage.[32]

The noun ek!m means "sowing", referring to the

teşrinievvel ek!m October planting of cereal seeds in autumn, which is
widespread in Turkey

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Geographic distribution

An advertisement by the
IKEA branch in Berlin
written in the German and
Turkish languages.

Turkish is natively spoken by the Turkish people in Turkey and by the Turkish diaspora in
some 30 other countries. Turkish language is mutually intelligible with Azerbaijani and
other Turkic languages. In particular, Turkish-speaking minorities exist in countries that
formerly (in whole or part) belonged to the Ottoman Empire, such as Iraq[33], Bulgaria,
Cyprus, Greece (primarily in Western Thrace), the Republic of North Macedonia, Romania,
and Serbia. More than two million Turkish speakers live in Germany; and there are
significant Turkish-speaking communities in the United States, France, the Netherlands,
Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.[1] Due to the cultural assimilation of
Turkish immigrants in host countries, not all ethnic members of the diaspora speak the
language with native fluency.[34]

In 2005 93% of the population of Turkey were native speakers of Turkish,[35] about 67
million at the time, with Kurdish languages making up most of the remainder.[36]

Azerbaijani language, official in Azerbaijan, is mutually intelligible with Turkish and

speakers of both languages can understand them without noticeable difficulty, especially
when discussion comes on ordinary, daily language. Turkey has very good relations with
Azerbaijan, with a multitude of Turkish companies and authorities investing there, while the
influence of Turkey in the country is very high. The rising presence of this very similar
language in Azerbaijan and the fact that many children use Turkish words instead of
Azerbaijani words due to satellite TV has caused concern that the dinstictive features of
the language will be eroded. Many bookstores sell books in Turkish language along
Azerbaijani language ones, with Agalar Mahmadov, a leading intellectual, voicing his

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concern that Turkish language has "already started to take over the national and natural
dialects of Azerbaijan". However, the presence of Turkish as foreign language is not as high
as Russian.[37] In Uzbekistan, the second most populated Turkic country, a new TV channel
Foreign Languages TV was established in 2022. This channel has been broadcasting
Turkish lessons along with English, French, German and Russian lessons.

Official status

   

Left: Bilingual sign, Turkish (top) and Arabic (bottom), at a Turkmen village in Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq.
Right: Road signs in Prizren, Kosovo. Official languages are: Albanian (top), Serbian (middle) and Turkish
(bottom).

Turkish is the official language of Turkey and is one of the official languages of Cyprus.
Turkish has official status in 38 municipalities in Kosovo, including Mamusha,[38][39], two in
the Republic of North Macedonia and in Kirkuk Governorate in Iraq.[40][41]

In Turkey, the regulatory body for Turkish is the Turkish Language Association (Türk Dil
Kurumu or TDK), which was founded in 1932 under the name Türk Dili Tetkik Cemiyeti
("Society for Research on the Turkish Language"). The Turkish Language Association was
influenced by the ideology of linguistic purism: indeed one of its primary tasks was the
replacement of loanwords and of foreign grammatical constructions with equivalents of
Turkish origin.[42] These changes, together with the adoption of the new Turkish alphabet
in 1928, shaped the modern Turkish language spoken today. The TDK became an
independent body in 1951, with the lifting of the requirement that it should be presided
over by the Minister of Education. This status continued until August 1983, when it was
again made into a governmental body in the constitution of 1982, following the military
coup d'état of 1980.[28]

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Dialects

Modern standard Turkish is based on the dialect of Istanbul.[43] This Istanbul Turkish
(İstanbul Türkçesi) constitutes the model of written and spoken Turkish, as recommended
by Ziya Gökalp, Ömer Seyfettin and others.[44]

Dialectal variation persists, in spite of the levelling influence of the standard used in mass
media and in the Turkish education system since the 1930s.[45] Academic researchers from
Turkey often refer to Turkish dialects as ağız or şive, leading to an ambiguity with the
linguistic concept of accent, which is also covered with these words. Several universities,
as well as a dedicated work-group of the Turkish Language Association, carry out projects
investigating Turkish dialects. As of 2002 work continued on the compilation and
publication of their research as a comprehensive dialect-atlas of the Turkish language.
[46][47]

Map of the main subgroups of

Turkish dialects across Southeast
Europe and the Middle East.

Some immigrants to Turkey from Rumelia speak Rumelian Turkish, which includes the
distinct dialects of Ludogorie, Dinler, and Adakale, which show the influence of the
theoretized Balkan sprachbund. Kıbrıs Türkçesi is the name for Cypriot Turkish and is
spoken by the Turkish Cypriots. Edirne is the dialect of Edirne. Ege is spoken in the Aegean
region, with its usage extending to Antalya. The nomadic Yörüks of the Mediterranean
Region of Turkey also have their own dialect of Turkish.[48] This group is not to be
confused with the Yuruk nomads of Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey, who speak
Balkan Gagauz Turkish.

The Meskhetian Turks who live in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia as well as in several
Central Asian countries, also speak an Eastern Anatolian dialect of Turkish, originating in
the areas of Kars, Ardahan, and Artvin and sharing similarities with Azerbaijani, the
language of Azerbaijan.[49]

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The Central Anatolia Region speaks Orta Anadolu. Karadeniz, spoken in the Eastern Black
Sea Region and represented primarily by the Trabzon dialect, exhibits substratum influence
from Greek in phonology and syntax;[50] it is also known as Laz dialect (not to be confused
with the Laz language). Kastamonu is spoken in Kastamonu and its surrounding areas.
Karamanli Turkish is spoken in Greece, where it is called Kαραµανλήδικα. It is the literary
standard for the Karamanlides.[51]

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Standard Turkish[52]

Dental/ Post-
Labial Palatal Velar Glottal
Alveolar alveolar

Nasal m n

voiceless p t t͡ʃ (c) k

Stop
voiced b d d͡ʒ (ɟ) ɡ

voiceless f s ʃ h
Fricative
voiced z ʒ
v
Approximant (ɫ) l j (ɰ)

Tap ɾ

At least one source claims Turkish consonants are laryngeally-specified three-way fortis-
lenis (aspirated/neutral/voiced) like Armenian.[53]

The phoneme that is usually referred to as yumuşak g ("soft g"), written ⟨ğ⟩ in Turkish
orthography, represents a vowel sequence or a rather weak bilabial approximant between
rounded vowels, a weak palatal approximant between unrounded front vowels, and a vowel
sequence elsewhere. It never occurs at the beginning of a word or a syllable, but always
follows a vowel. When word-final or preceding another consonant, it lengthens the
preceding vowel.[54]

In native Turkic words, the sounds [c], [ɟ], and [l] are in complementary distribution with
[k], [ɡ], and [ɫ]; the former set occurs adjacent to front vowels and the latter adjacent to

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back vowels. The distribution of these phonemes is often unpredictable, however, in

foreign borrowings and proper nouns. In such words, [c], [ɟ], and [l] often occur with back
vowels:[55] some examples are given below.

Consonant devoicing

Turkish orthography reflects final-obstruent devoicing, a form of consonant mutation

whereby a voiced obstruent, such as /b d dʒ ɡ/, is devoiced to [p t tʃ k] at the end of a
word or before a consonant, but retains its voicing before a vowel. In loan words, the
voiced equivalent of /k/ is /g/; in native words, it is /ğ/.[56][57]

Obstruent devoicing in nouns

Dative case
Underlying Devoiced Underlying Dictionary
/ Meaning
consonant form morpheme form
1sg present

b p *kitab kitap kitaba book (loan)

c ç *uc uç uca tip

d t *bud but buda thigh

g k *reng renk renge color (loan)

ğ k *ekmeğ ekmek ekmeğe bread

This is analogous to languages such as German and Russian, but in the case of Turkish it
only applies, as the above examples demonstrate, to stops and affricates, not to fricatives.
The spelling is usually made to match the sound. However, in a few cases, such as ad /at/
'name' (dative ada), the underlying form is retained in the spelling (cf. at /at/ 'horse', dative
ata). Other exceptions are od 'fire' vs. ot 'herb', sac 'sheet metal', saç 'hair'. Most
loanwords, such as kitap above, are spelled as pronounced, but a few such as hac 'hajj',
şad 'happy', and yad 'strange' or 'stranger' also show their underlying forms.

Native nouns of two or more syllables that end in /k/ in dictionary form are nearly all //ğ// in
underlying form. However, most verbs and monosyllabic nouns are underlyingly //k//.[58]

Vowels

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Vowels of Turkish. From Zimmer & Orgun

(1999:155)

The vowels of the Turkish language are, in their alphabetical order, ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨ı⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨ö⟩,
⟨u⟩, ⟨ü⟩.[59] The Turkish vowel system can be considered as being three-dimensional,
where vowels are characterised by how and where they are articulated focusing on three
key features: front and back, rounded and unrounded and vowel height.[60] Vowels are
classified [±back], [±round] and [±high].[61]

The only diphthongs in the language are found in loanwords and may be categorised as
falling diphthongs usually analyzed as a sequence of /j/ and a vowel.[54]

Vowel harmony

Front Vowels Back Vowels

Turkish Vowel Harmony
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded

Vowel e /e/ i /i/ ü /y/ ö /ø/ a /a/ ı /ɯ/ u /u/ o /o/

Twofold (Backness) e a

Fourfold (Backness + Rounding) i ü ı u

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Road sign at the European end of

the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
(Photo taken during the 28th
Istanbul Marathon in 2006)

The principle of vowel harmony, which permeates Turkish word-formation and suffixation,
is due to the natural human tendency towards economy of muscular effort.[62] This
principle is expressed in Turkish through three rules:

1. If the first vowel of a word is a back vowel, any subsequent vowel is also a back vowel;
if the first is a front vowel, any subsequent vowel is also a front vowel.[62]

2. If the first vowel is unrounded, so too are subsequent vowels.[62]

3. If the first vowel is rounded, subsequent vowels are either rounded and close or
unrounded and open.[63]

The second and third rules minimize muscular effort during speech. More specifically, they
are related to the phenomenon of labial assimilation:[64] if the lips are rounded (a process
that requires muscular effort) for the first vowel they may stay rounded for subsequent
vowels.[63] If they are unrounded for the first vowel, the speaker does not make the
additional muscular effort to round them subsequently.[62]

Grammatical affixes have "a chameleon-like quality",[65] and obey one of the following
patterns of vowel harmony:

• twofold (-e/-a):[66] the locative case suffix, for example, is -de after front vowels and
-da after back vowels. The notation -de² is a convenient shorthand for this pattern.

• fourfold (-i/-ı/-ü/-u): the genitive case suffix, for example, is -in or -ın after unrounded
vowels (front or back respectively); and -ün or -un after the corresponding rounded
vowels. In this case, the shorthand notation -in4 is used.

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Practically, the twofold pattern (also referred to as the e-type vowel harmony) means that
in the environment where the vowel in the word stem is formed in the front of the mouth,
the suffix will take the e-form, while if it is formed in the back it will take the a-form. The
fourfold pattern (also called the i-type) accounts for rounding as well as for front/back.[67]
The following examples, based on the copula -dir4 ("[it] is"), illustrate the principles of
i-type vowel harmony in practice: Türkiye'dir ("it is Turkey"),[68] kapıdır ("it is the door"),
but gündür ("it is the day"), paltodur ("it is the coat").[69]

Exceptions to vowel harmony

These are four word-classes that are exceptions to the rules of vowel harmony:

1. Native, non-compound words, e.g. dah! "also," ela "light brown," elma "apple," hang!
"which," han! "where," hayd! "come on," !nanmak "to believe," kardeş "brother,"
ş!şman "fat," anne "mother"

2. Native compound words, e.g. bugün "today," ded!kodu "gossip"

3. Foreign words, e.g. ferman (< Farsi ‫" ﻓرﻣﺎﻧدھﯽ‬command"), m!krop (< French microbe
"microbe"), p!skopos (< Greek επίσκοπος "bishop")

4. Invariable suffixes: –daş (denoting common attachment to the concept expressed

by the noun), –yor (denoting the present tense in the third person), –ane (turning
adjectives or nouns into adverbs), –ken (meaning "while being"), –leyin (meaning
"in/at/during"), –$mtrak (weakening an adjective of color or taste in a way similar to
the English suffix –ish as in blueish), –ki (making a pronoun or adjective out of an
adverb or a noun in the locative case), –gil (meaning "the house or family of"), –gen
(referring to the name of plane figures)

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Invariable suffix Turkish example Meaning in English Remarks

–daş meslektaş "colleague" From meslek "profession."

–yor gel!yor "he/she/it is coming" From gel– "to come."

–ane şahane "regal" From şah, "king."

–ken uyurken "while sleeping" From uyu–, "to sleep."

–leyin sabahley!n "in the morning" From sabah, "morning."

–imtrak ekş!mtrak "sourish" From ekş!, "sour."

–ki ormandak! "(that) in the forest" From orman, "forest."

–gil annemg!ller "my mother's family" From annem, "my mother."

–gen altıgen "hexagon" From altı, "six."

The road sign in the photograph above illustrates several of these features:

• a native compound which does not obey vowel harmony: Orta+köy ("middle village"—a
place name)

• a loanword also violating vowel harmony: viyadük (< French viaduc "viaduct")

• the possessive suffix -i4 harmonizing with the final vowel (and softening the k by
consonant alternation): viyadüğü

The rules of vowel harmony may vary by regional dialect. The dialect of Turkish spoken in
the Trabzon region of northeastern Turkey follows the reduced vowel harmony of Old
Anatolian Turkish, with the additional complication of two missing vowels (ü and ı), thus
there is no palatal harmony. It's likely that elün meant "your hand" in Old Anatolian. While
the 2nd person singular possessive would vary between back and front vowel, -ün or -un,
as in elün for "your hand" and kitabun for "your book", the lack of ü vowel in the Trabzon
dialect means -un would be used in both of these cases — elun and kitabun.[70]

Word-accent

With the exceptions stated below, Turkish words are oxytone (accented on the last
syllable).

Exceptions to word-accent rules

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1. Place-names are not oxytone:[62] Anádolu (Anatolia), İstánbul. Most place names
are accented on their first syllable as in Pár$s and Zónguldak. This holds true when
place names are spelled the same way as common nouns, which are oxytone: mısír
(maize), Mísır (Egypt), s$rkecı̇́ (vinegar-seller), Sı̇́rkec$ (district in Istanbul), bebék
(doll, baby), Bébek (district in Istanbul), ordú (army), Órdu (a Turkish city on the
Black Sea).

2. Foreign nouns usually retain their original accentuation,[62] e.g., lokánta (< Italian
locanda "restaurant"), ólta (< Greek βόλτα "fishing line"), gazéte (< Italian gazzetta
"newspaper")

3. Some words about family members[63] and living creatures[63] have irregular
accentuation: ánne (mother), ábla (older sister), görúmce (husband's sister), yénge
(brother's wife), hála (paternal aunt), téyze (maternal aunt), ámca (paternal uncle),
çekı̇́rge (grasshopper), karínca (ant), kokárca (skunk)

4. Adverbs[63] are usually accented on the first syllable, e.g., şı̇́md$ (now), sónra
(after), ánsızın (suddenly), gérçekten (really), (but gerçektén (from reality)), kíşın
(during winter)

5. Compound words[64] are accented on the end of the first element, e.g., çíplak
(naked), çırílçıplak (stark naked), bakán (minister), báşbakan (prime minister)

6. Diminutives constructed by suffix –cik are accented on the first syllable, e.g., úfacık
(very tiny), évc$k (small house)

7. Words with enclitic suffixes, –le (meaning "with"), –ken (meaning "while"), –ce
(creating an adverb), –leyin (meaning "in" or "during"), –me (negating the verbal
stem), –yor (denoting the present tense)
Enclitic suffix Turkish example Meaning in English

–le memnun!yétle with pleasure

–ken yazárken while writing

–ce hayváncasına bestially

–leyin gecéley!n by night

–me anlamádı he/she/it did not understand

–yor gelı̇́yor he/she/it is coming

• Enclitic words, which shift the accentuation to the previous syllable, e.g., ol- (meaning
to be), mi (denoting a question), gibi (meaning similar to), için (for), ki (that), de (too)

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Enclitic suffix Turkish example Meaning in English

ol- as a separate word arkadaşím !d! he/she was my friend

ol- as a suffix arkadaşímdı he/she was my friend

mi anlamadí mı did he/she not understand?

gibi s!zı̇́n g!b! like you

için benı̇́m !ç!n for me

ki d!yorlár k! ólmıyacak they are saying that it won't happen

de b!z de us too

Syntax

Sentence groups

Turkish has two groups of sentences: verbal and nominal sentences. In the case of a verbal
sentence, the predicate is a finite verb, while the predicate in nominal sentence will have
either no overt verb or a verb in the form of the copula ol or y (variants of "be"). Examples
of both are given below:[71]

Sentence type Turkish English

Subject Predicate

Verbal Necla okula gitti Necla went to school

Nominal (no
Necla öğretmen Necla is a teacher
verb)

ev-de-y-miş (hyphens delineate Apparently Necla is at

(copula) Necla
suffixes) home

Negation

The two groups of sentences have different ways of forming negation. A nominal sentence
can be negated with the addition of the word değil. For example, the sentence above would
become Necla öğretmen değil ('Necla is not a teacher'). However, the verbal sentence
requires the addition of a negative suffix -me to the verb (the suffix comes after the stem
but before the tense): Necla okula gitmedi ('Necla did not go to school').[72]

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Yes/no questions

In the case of a verbal sentence, an interrogative clitic mi is added after the verb and
stands alone, for example Necla okula gitti mi? ('Did Necla go to school?'). In the case of a
nominal sentence, then mi comes after the predicate but before the personal ending, so for
example Necla, siz öğretmen misiniz? ('Necla, are you [formal, plural] a teacher?').[72]

Word order

Word order in simple Turkish sentences is generally subject–object–verb, as in Korean and

Latin, but unlike English, for verbal sentences and subject-predicate for nominal
sentences. However, as Turkish possesses a case-marking system, and most grammatical
relations are shown using morphological markers, often the SOV structure has diminished
relevance and may vary. The SOV structure may thus be considered a "pragmatic word
order" of language, one that does not rely on word order for grammatical purposes.[73]

Immediately preverbal

Consider the following simple sentence which demonstrates that the focus in Turkish is on
the element that immediately precedes the verb:[74]

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Word
Focus
order

Ahmet yumurta-yı
Ahmet egg.ACC

SOV yedi unmarked

ate
Ahmet ate the egg

Ahmet yedi
Ahmet ate
yumurta-yı the focus is on the subject: Ahmet (it was Ahmet who
SVO
egg.ACC ate the egg)

Ahmet ate the egg

Yumurta-yı yedi
egg.ACC ate
Ahmet the focus is on the object: egg (it was an egg that
OVS
Ahmet Ahmet ate)

Ahmet ate the egg

Postpredicate

The postpredicate position signifies what is referred to as background information in

Turkish- information that is assumed to be known to both the speaker and the listener, or
information that is included in the context. Consider the following examples:[71]

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Sentence Word
type order

Bu ev güzelmiş (apparently
Nominal S-predicate unmarked
this house is beautiful)

Güzelmiş bu ev (it is
it is understood that the
Predicate-s apparently beautiful, this
sentence is about this house
house)

Bana da bir kahve getir (get

Verbal SOV unmarked
me a coffee too)

Bana da getir bir kahve (get it is understood that it is a

me one too, a coffee) coffee that the speaker wants

Topic

There has been some debate among linguists whether Turkish is a subject-prominent (like
English) or topic-prominent (like Japanese and Korean) language, with recent scholarship
implying that it is indeed both subject and topic-prominent.[75] This has direct implications
for word order as it is possible for the subject to be included in the verb-phrase in Turkish.
There can be S/O inversion in sentences where the topic is of greater importance than the
subject.

Grammar

Turkish is an agglutinative language and frequently uses affixes, and specifically suffixes,
or endings.[76] One word can have many affixes and these can also be used to create new
words, such as creating a verb from a noun, or a noun from a verbal root (see the section
on Word formation). Most affixes indicate the grammatical function of the word.[77] The
only native prefixes are alliterative intensifying syllables used with adjectives or adverbs:
for example sımsıcak ("boiling hot" < sıcak) and masmavi ("bright blue" < mavi).[78]

The extensive use of affixes can give rise to long words, e.g.
Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınızcasına, meaning "In the manner of you being
one of those that we apparently couldn't manage to convert to Czechoslovakian". While
this case is contrived, long words frequently occur in normal Turkish, as in this heading of a
newspaper obituary column: Bayramlaşamadıklarımız (Bayram [festival]-Recipr-Impot-

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Partic-Plur-PossPl1; "Those of our number with whom we cannot exchange the season's
greetings").[79] Another example can be seen in the final word of this heading of the online
Turkish Spelling Guide (İmlâ Kılavuzu): Dilde birlik, ulusal birliğin vazgeçilemezlerindendir
("Unity in language is among the indispensables [dispense-Pass-Impot-Plur-PossS3-Abl-
Copula] of national unity ~ Linguistic unity is a sine qua non of national unity").[80]

Nouns

Gender

Turkish does not have grammatical gender and the sex of persons do not affect the forms
of words. The third-person pronoun o may refer to "he," "she" or "it." Despite this lack,
Turkish still has ways of indicating gender in nouns:

1. Most domestic animals have male and female forms, e.g., aygır (stallion), kısrak
(mare), boğa (bull), !nek (cow).

2. For other animals, the sex may be indicated by adding the word d!ş! (female) before
the corresponding noun, e.g., d!ş! ked! (female cat).

3. For people, the female sex may be indicated by adding the word kız (girl) or kadın
(woman), e.g., kadın kahraman (heroine) instead of kahraman (hero).

4. Some foreign words of French or Arabic origin already have separate female forms,
e.g., aktr!s (actress).

5. The Serbo-Croat feminine suffix –ica is used in three borrowings: kral!çe (queen),
!mparator!çe (empress) and çar!çe (tsarina). This suffix was used in the neologism
tanrıça (< Old Turkic tanrı "god").
Case

There is no definite article in Turkish, but definiteness of the object is implied when the
accusative ending is used (see below). Turkish nouns decline by taking case endings.
There are six noun cases in Turkish, with all the endings following vowel harmony (shown in
the table using the shorthand superscript notation). Since the postposition ile often gets
suffixed onto the noun, some analyze it as an instrumental case, although it takes the
genitive with personal pronouns, singular demonstratives, and interrogative kim. The plural
marker -ler ² immediately follows the noun before any case or other affixes (e.g. köylerin
"of the villages").

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Examples
Case Ending Meaning
köy "village" ağaç "tree"

Nominative ∅ (none) köy ağaç (the) village/tree

Accusative -i 4 köyü ağacı the village/tree

the village's/tree's
Genitive -in 4 köyün ağacın
of the village/tree

Dative -e ² köye ağaca to the village/tree

Locative -de ² köyde ağaçta in/on/at the village/tree

Ablative -den ² köyden ağaçtan from the village/tree

Instrumental -le ² köyle ağaçla with the village/tree

The accusative case marker is used only for definite objects; compare (bir) ağaç gördük
"we saw a tree" with ağacı gördük "we saw the tree".[81] The plural marker -ler ² is
generally not used when a class or category is meant: ağaç gördük can equally well mean
"we saw trees [as we walked through the forest]"—as opposed to ağaçları gördük "we saw
the trees [in question]".

The declension of ağaç illustrates two important features of Turkish phonology: consonant
assimilation in suffixes (ağaçtan, ağaçta) and voicing of final consonants before vowels
(ağacın, ağaca, ağacı).

Additionally, nouns can take suffixes that assign person: for example -imiz 4, "our". With
the addition of the copula (for example -im 4, "I am") complete sentences can be formed.
The interrogative particle mi 4 immediately follows the word being questioned, and also
follows vowel harmony: köye mi? "[going] to the village?", ağaç mı? "[is it a] tree?".

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Turkish English

ev (the) house

evler (the) houses

evin your (sing.) house

eviniz your (pl./formal) house

evim my house

evimde at my house

evlerinizin of your houses

evlerinizden from your houses

evlerinizdendi (he/she/it) was from your houses

evlerinizdenmiş (he/she/it) was (apparently/said to be) from your houses

Evinizdeyim. I am at your house.

Evinizdeymişim. I was (apparently) at your house.

Evinizde miyim? Am I at your house?

Personal pronouns

The Turkish personal pronouns in the nominative case are ben (1s), sen (2s), o (3s), biz
(1pl), siz (2pl, or 2h), and onlar (3pl). They are declined regularly with some exceptions:
benim (1s gen.); bizim (1pl gen.); bana (1s dat.); sana (2s dat.); and the oblique forms of o
use the root on. As mentioned before, all demonstrative singular and personal pronouns
take the genitive when ile is affixed onto it: benimle (1s ins.), bizimle (1pl ins.); but onunla
(3s ins.), onlarla (3pl ins.). All other pronouns (reflexive kendi and so on) are declined
regularly.

Noun phrases (tamlama)

Two nouns, or groups of nouns, may be joined in either of two ways:

• definite (possessive) compound (belirtili tamlama). E.g. Türkiye'nin sesi "the voice of
Turkey (radio station)": the voice belonging to Turkey. Here the relationship is shown by
the genitive ending -in4 added to the first noun; the second noun has the third-person
suffix of possession -(s)!4.

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• indefinite (qualifying) compound (belirtisiz tamlama). E.g. Türkiye Cumhuriyeti "Turkey-

Republic[82] = the Republic of Turkey": not the republic belonging to Turkey, but the
Republic that is Turkey. Here the first noun has no ending; but the second noun has the
ending (s)!4—the same as in definite compounds.

The following table illustrates these principles.[83] In some cases the constituents of the
compounds are themselves compounds; for clarity these subsidiary compounds are
marked with [square brackets]. The suffixes involved in the linking are underlined. Note
that if the second noun group already had a possessive suffix (because it is a compound
by itself), no further suffix is added.

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Linked nouns and noun groups

Definite Indefinite
Complement Meaning
(possessive) (qualifier)

kimsenin yanıtı nobody's answer

"kimse" yanıtı the answer "nobody"

Atatürk'ün evi Atatürk's house

Atatürk Boulevard (named

Atatürk Bulvarı
after, not belonging to Atatürk)

Orhan'ın adı Orhan's name

"Orhan" adı the name "Orhan"

r sessizi the consonant r

pronunciation of the consonant

[r sessizi]nin söylenişi
r

Türk [Dil Kurumu] Turkish language-association

[Türk Dili] Dergisi Turkish-language magazine

Ford [aile arabası] Ford family car

Ford'un [aile arabası] (Mr) Ford's family car

[Ford ailesi]nin arabası the Ford family's car[84]

Ankara [Kız Lisesi][85] Ankara Girls' School

[yıl sonu] sınavları year-end examinations

the Istanbul Consulate-General

[İstanbul
Bulgaristan'ın of Bulgaria (located in Istanbul,
Başkonsolosluğu]
but belonging to Bulgaria)

[ [İstanbul
Professor of Turkish Literature
Üniversitesi] [ [Türk Edebiyatı]
in the Faculty of Literature of
[Edebiyat Fakültesi] Profesörü]
the University of Istanbul
]

"what-have-I-become!"[86]
ne oldum delisi madman = parvenu who gives
himself airs

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As the last example shows, the qualifying expression may be a substantival sentence rather
than a noun or noun group.[87]

There is a third way of linking the nouns where both nouns take no suffixes (takısız
tamlama). However, in this case the first noun acts as an adjective,[88] e.g. Demir kapı (iron
gate), elma yanak ("apple cheek", i.e. red cheek), kömür göz ("coal eye", i.e. black eye) :

Adjectives

Turkish adjectives are not declined. However most adjectives can also be used as nouns, in
which case they are declined: e.g. güzel ("beautiful") → güzeller ("(the) beautiful ones /
people"). Used attributively, adjectives precede the nouns they modify. The adjectives var
("existent") and yok ("non-existent") are used in many cases where English would use
"there is" or "have", e.g. süt yok ("there is no milk", lit. "(the) milk (is) non-existent"); the
construction "noun 1-GEN noun 2-POSS var/yok" can be translated "noun 1 has/doesn't
have noun 2"; imparatorun elbisesi yok "the emperor has no clothes" ("(the) emperor-of
clothes-his non-existent"); ked!m!n ayakkabıları yoktu ("my cat had no shoes", lit. "cat-my-
of shoe-plur.-its non-existent-past tense").

Verbs

Turkish verbs indicate person. They can be made negative, potential ("can"), or non-
potential ("cannot"). Furthermore, Turkish verbs show tense (present, past, future, and
aorist), mood (conditional, imperative, inferential, necessitative, and optative), and aspect.
Negation is expressed by the infix -me²- immediately following the stem.

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Turkish English

gel- (to) come

gelebil- (to) be able to come

gelme- not (to) come

geleme- (to) be unable to come

gelememiş Apparently (s)he couldn't come

gelebilecek (s)he'll be able to come

gelmeyebilir (s)he may (possibly) not come

gelebilirsen if you can come

gelinir (passive) one comes, people come

gelebilmeliydin you should have been able to come

gelebilseydin if you could have come

gelmeliydin you should have come

Verb tenses

(Note. For the sake of simplicity the term "tense" is used here throughout, although for
some forms "aspect" or "mood" might be more appropriate.) There are 9 simple and 20
compound tenses in Turkish. 9 simple tenses are simple past (di'li geçmiş), inferential past
(miş'li geçmiş), present continuous, simple present (aorist), future, optative, subjunctive,
necessitative ("must") and imperative.[89] There are three groups of compound forms.
Story (hikaye) is the witnessed past of the above forms (except command), rumor (rivayet)
is the unwitnessed past of the above forms (except simple past and command), conditional
(koşul) is the conditional form of the first five basic tenses.[90] In the example below the
second person singular of the verb gitmek ("go"), stem gid-/git-, is shown.

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English of the Basic Story Rumor Condition

basic form tense (hikâye) (rivayet) (koşul)

you went gittin gittiydin – gittiysen

you have gone gitmişsin gitmiştin gitmişmişsin gitmişsen

you are going gidiyorsun gidiyordun gidiyormuşsun gidiyorsan

you (are wont to) go gidersin giderdin gidermişsin gidersen

you will go gideceksin gidecektin gidecekmişsin gideceksen

if only you go gitsen gitseydin gitseymişsin –

may you go gidesin gideydin gideymişsin –

you must go gitmelisin gitmeliydin gitmeliymişsin –

go! (imperative) git – – –

There are also so-called combined verbs, which are created by suffixing certain verb stems
(like bil or ver) to the original stem of a verb. Bil is the suffix for the sufficiency mood. It is
the equivalent of the English auxiliary verbs "able to", "can" or "may". Ver is the suffix for
the swiftness mood, kal for the perpetuity mood and yaz for the approach ("almost")
mood.[91] Thus, while gittin means "you went", gidebildin means "you could go" and
gidiverdin means "you went swiftly". The tenses of the combined verbs are formed the
same way as for simple verbs.

Attributive verbs (participles)

Turkish verbs have attributive forms, including present,[92] similar to the English present
participle (with the ending -en 2); future (-ecek 2); indirect/inferential past (-miş 4); and
aorist (-er 2 or -ir 4).

The most important function of some of these attributive verbs is to form modifying
phrases equivalent to the relative clauses found in most European languages. The subject
of the verb in an -en 2 form is (possibly implicitly) in the third person (he/she/it/they); this
form, when used in a modifying phrase, does not change according to number. The other
attributive forms used in these constructions are the future (-ecek 2) and an older form
(-dik 4), which covers both present and past meanings.[93] These two forms take "personal
endings", which have the same form as the possessive suffixes but indicate the person and
possibly number of the subject of the attributive verb; for example, yediğim means "what I
eat", yediğin means "what you eat", and so on. The use of these "personal or relative

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participles" is illustrated in the following table, in which the examples are presented
according to the grammatical case which would be seen in the equivalent English relative
clause.[94]

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English equivalent

Case of relative Example

Pronoun
pronoun

şimdi konuşan adam

now speaking man
Nominative who, which/that
the man (who is) now speaking

babası şimdi konuşan adam

father-is now speaking man
Genitive whose (nom.)
the man whose father is now speaking

babasını dün gördüğüm

father-is-ACC yesterday seen-my

whose (acc.) adam

man
the man whose father I saw yesterday

resimlerine baktığımız ressam

pictures-is-to looked-our artist
at whose
the artist whose pictures we looked at

muhtarı seçildiği köy

mayor-its been-chosen-his village
of which
the village of which he was elected mayor

muhtarı seçilmek istediği köy

of which the village of which he wishes to be

elected mayor

yazdığım mektup
Remaining cases (incl. written-my letter
whom, which
prepositions) the letter (which) I wrote

çıktığımız kapı
from which
emerged-our door

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the door from which we emerged

geldikleri vapur
come-their ship
on which
the ship they came on

yaklaştığını anladığı
approach-their-ACC understood-his

which + subordinate hapishane günleri

prison days-its
clause
the prison days (which) he knew were
approaching[95][96]

Vocabulary

Latest 2010 edition of Büyük Türkçe Sözlük (Great Turkish Dictionary), the official
dictionary of the Turkish language published by Turkish Language Association, contains
616,767 words, expressions, terms and nouns, including place names and person names,
both from the standard language and from dialects.[97]

Word formation

Turkish extensively uses agglutination to form new words from nouns and verbal stems.
The majority of Turkish words originate from the application of derivative suffixes to a
relatively small set of core vocabulary.[98]

Turkish obeys certain principles when it comes to suffixation. Most suffixes in Turkish will
have more than one form, depending on the vowels and consonants in the root- vowel
harmony rules will apply; consonant-initial suffixes will follow the voiced/ voiceless
character of the consonant in the final unit of the root; and in the case of vowel-initial
suffixes an additional consonant may be inserted if the root ends in a vowel, or the suffix
may lose its initial vowel. There is also a prescribed order of affixation of suffixes- as a rule
of thumb, derivative suffixes precede inflectional suffixes which are followed by clitics, as
can be seen in the example set of words derived from a substantive root below:

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Turkish Components English Word class

göz göz eye Noun

gözlük göz + -lük eyeglasses Noun

gözlükçü göz + -lük + -çü optician Noun

gözlükçülük göz + -lük + -çü + -lük optician's trade Noun

gözlem göz + -lem observation Noun

gözlemci göz + -lem + -ci observer Noun

gözle- göz + -le observe Verb (order)

gözlemek göz + -le + -mek to observe Verb (infinitive)

gözetlemek göz + -et + -le + -mek to peep Verb (infinitive)

Another example, starting from a verbal root:

Turkish Components English Word class

yat- yat- lie down Verb (order)

yatmak yat-mak to lie down Verb (infinitive)

yatık yat- + -(ı)k leaning Adjective

yatak yat- + -ak bed, place to sleep Noun

yatay yat- + -ay horizontal Adjective

yatkın yat- + -gın inclined to; stale (from lying too long) Adjective

yatır- yat- + -(ı)r- lay down Verb (order)

yatırmak yat- + -(ı)r-mak to lay down something/someone Verb (infinitive)

yatırım yat- + -(ı)r- + -(ı)m laying down; deposit, investment Noun

yatırımcı yat- + -(ı)r- + -(ı)m + -cı depositor, investor Noun

New words are also frequently formed by compounding two existing words into a new one,
as in German. Compounds can be of two types- bare and (s)I. The bare compounds, both
nouns and adjectives are effectively two words juxtaposed without the addition of suffixes
for example the word for girlfriend kızarkadaş (kız+arkadaş) or black pepper karab!ber
(kara+b!ber). A few examples of compound words are given below:

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Turkish English Constituent words Literal meaning

pazartesi Monday pazar ("Sunday") and ertesi ("after") after Sunday

information
bilgisayar computer bilgi ("information") and say- ("to count")
counter

gökdelen skyscraper gök ("sky") and del- ("to pierce") sky piercer

başparmak thumb baş ("prime") and parmak ("finger") primary finger

ön ("before") and yargı ("splitting;

önyargı prejudice fore-judging
judgement")

However, the majority of compound words in Turkish are (s)I compounds, which means that
the second word will be marked by the 3rd person possessive suffix. A few such examples
are given in the table below (note vowel harmony):

Turkish English Constituent words Possessive Suffix

el çantası handbag el (hand) and çanta (bag) +sı

masa örtüsü tablecloth masa (table) and örtü (cover) +sü

çay bardağı tea glass çay (tea) and bardak (glass) +ı (the k changes to ğ)

Writing system

Atatürk introducing the new

Turkish alphabet to the
people of Kayseri.
September 20, 1928.
(Cover of the French
L'Illustration magazine)

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Turkish is written using a Latin alphabet introduced in 1928 by Atatürk to replace the
Ottoman Turkish alphabet, a version of Perso-Arabic alphabet. The Ottoman alphabet
marked only three different vowels—long ā, ū and ī—and included several redundant
consonants, such as variants of z (which were distinguished in Arabic but not in Turkish).
The omission of short vowels in the Arabic script was claimed to make it particularly
unsuitable for Turkish, which has eight vowels.[99]

The reform of the script was an important step in the cultural reforms of the period. The
task of preparing the new alphabet and selecting the necessary modifications for sounds
specific to Turkish was entrusted to a Language Commission composed of prominent
linguists, academics, and writers. The introduction of the new Turkish alphabet was
supported by public education centers opened throughout the country, cooperation with
publishing companies, and encouragement by Atatürk himself, who toured the country
teaching the new letters to the public.[100] As a result, there was a dramatic increase in
literacy from its original, pre-modern levels.[101]

The Latin alphabet was applied to the Turkish language for educational purposes even
before the 20th-century reform. Instances include a 1635 Latin-Albanian dictionary by
Frang Bardhi, who also incorporated several sayings in the Turkish language, as an
appendix to his work (e.g. alma agatsdan irak duschamas[102]—"An apple does not fall far
from its tree").

Turkish now has an alphabet suited to the sounds of the language: the spelling is largely
phonemic, with one letter corresponding to each phoneme.[103] Most of the letters are
used approximately as in English, the main exceptions being ⟨c⟩, which denotes [dʒ] (⟨j⟩
being used for the [ʒ] found in Persian and European loans); and the undotted ⟨ı⟩,
representing [ɯ]. As in German, ⟨ö⟩ and ⟨ü⟩ represent [ø] and [y]. The letter ⟨ğ⟩, in
principle, denotes [ɣ] but has the property of lengthening the preceding vowel and
assimilating any subsequent vowel. The letters ⟨ş⟩ and ⟨ç⟩ represent [ʃ] and [tʃ],
respectively. A circumflex is written over back vowels following ⟨k⟩ and ⟨g⟩ when these
consonants represent [c] and [ɟ]—almost exclusively in Arabic and Persian loans.[104]

The Turkish alphabet consists of 29 letters (q, x, w omitted and ç, ş, ğ, ı, ö, ü added); the
complete list is:

a, b, c, ç, d, e, f, g, ğ, h, ı, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, ö, p, r, s, ş, t, u, ü, v, y, and z (Note that capital

of i is İ and lowercase I is ı.)

The specifically Turkish letters and spellings described above are illustrated in this table:

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Turkish spelling Pronunciation Meaning

Cağaloğlu ˈdʒaːɫoːɫu [İstanbul district]

çalıştığı tʃaɫɯʃtɯː where/that (s)he works/worked

müjde myʒˈde good news

lazım laːˈzɯm necessary

mahkûm mahˈcum condemned

Sample

Dostlar Beni Hatırlasın by Âşık Veysel Şatıroğlu (1894–1973), a minstrel and highly
regarded poet in the Turkish folk literature tradition.

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Orthography IPA Translation

Ben giderim adım
bæn ɟid̪e̞ɾim äd̪ɯm käɫɯɾ I depart, my name remains
kalır
Dostlar beni
d̪o̞st̪ɫäɾ be̞ni hätɯɾɫäsɯn May friends remember me
hatırlasın
Düğün olur bayram There are weddings, there are
d̪yjyn o̞ɫuɾ bäjɾäm ɟe̞liɾ
gelir feasts
Dostlar beni
d̪o̞st̪ɫäɾ be̞ni hätɯɾɫäsɯn May friends remember me
hatırlasın

Can kafeste The soul won't stay caged, it

d͡ʒäŋ käfe̞st̪e̞ d̪uɾmäz ut͡ʃäɾ
durmaz uçar flies away
Dünya bir han The world is an inn, residents
d̪ynjä biɾ häŋ ko̞nän ɟø̞t͡ʃæɾ
konan göçer depart
Ay dolanır yıllar The moon wanders, years pass
äj d̪o̞ɫänɯɾ jɯɫːäɾ ɟe̞t͡ʃæɾ
geçer by
Dostlar beni
d̪o̞st̪ɫäɾ be̞ni hätɯɾɫäsɯn May friends remember me
hatırlasın

Can bedenden d͡ʒän be̞d̪ænd̪æn

The soul will leave the body
ayrılacak äjɾɯɫäd͡ʒäk
Tütmez baca t̪yt̪mæz bäd͡ʒä jänmäz The chimney won't smoke,
yanmaz ocak o̞d͡ʒäk furnace won't burn
Selam olsun kucak se̞läːm o̞ɫsuŋ kud͡ʒäk
Goodbye goodbye to you all
kucak kud͡ʒäk
Dostlar beni
d̪o̞st̪ɫäɾ be̞ni hätɯɾɫäsɯn May friends remember me
hatırlasın

Açar solar türlü

ät͡ʃäɾ so̞läɾ t̪yɾly t͡ʃit͡ʃe̞c Various flowers bloom and fade
çiçek

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Kimler gülmüş kim Someone laughed, someone

cimlæɾ ɟylmyʃ cim ɟyle̞d͡ʒe̞c
gülecek will laugh
Murat yalan ölüm
muɾät jäɫän ø̞lym ɟæɾt͡ʃe̞c Wishes are lies, death is real
gerçek
Dostlar beni
d̪o̞st̪ɫäɾ be̞ni hätɯɾɫäsɯn May friends remember me
hatırlasın

Gün ikindi akşam Morning and afternoon turn to

ɟyn icindi äkʃäm o̞ɫuɾ
olur night
Gör ki başa neler And many things happen to a
ɟø̞ɾ ci bäʃä ne̞læɾ ɟe̞liɾ
gelir person anyway
Veysel gider adı Veysel departs, his name
ʋe̞jsæl ɟidæɾ äd̪ɯ käɫɯɾ
kalır remains
Dostlar beni
d̪o̞st̪ɫäɾ be̞ni hätɯɾɫäsɯn May friends remember me
hatırlasın

Whistled language

In the Turkish province of Giresun, the locals in the village of Kuşköy have communicated
using a whistled version of Turkish for over 400 years. The region consists of a series of
deep valleys and the unusual mode of communication allows for conversation over
distances of up to 5 kilometres. Turkish authorities estimate that there are still around
10,000 people using the whistled language. However, in 2011 UNESCO found whistling
Turkish to be a dying language and included it in its intangible cultural heritage list. Since
then the local education directorate has introduced it as a course in schools in the region,
hoping to revive its use.

A study was conducted by a German scientist of Turkish origin Onur Güntürkün at Ruhr
University, observing 31 "speakers" of kuş d!l! ("bird's tongue") from Kuşköy, and he found
that the whistled language mirrored the lexical and syntactical structure of Turkish
language.[105]

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Turkish computer keyboard

A Turkish computer keyboard with

Q (QWERTY) layout.

Turkish language uses two standardised keyboard layouts, known as Turkish Q (QWERTY)
and Turkish F, with Turkish Q being the most common.

See also

• Sun Language Theory   Turkey portal

• Turkish name

• Turkish Sign Language

• List of English words of Turkic origin

• List of Turkish exonyms

• Öztürkçe

• Languages used on the Internet

Notes

a. Turkish language is currently official in Kirkuk Governorate, Kifri and Tuz Khurmatu districts.
[9][10] In addition to that, it is considered an educational language for Iraqi Turkmen by Kurdistan
Region[11]

b. Turkish language is currently official in Gjilan, Southern Mitrovica, Vučitrn, Mamuša and Prizren
municipalities.[12]

c. Turkish language is currently official in Centar Zupa and Plasnica Municipality[13]

References

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Turkish language - Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_language

1. Turkish (https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tur/25) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  

2. Karcı, Durmuş (2018), "The Effects of Language Characters and Identity of Meskhetian Turkish
in Kazakhstan", Kesit Akademi Dergisi, 4 (13)

3. Behnstedt, Peter (2008). "Syria". In Versteegh, Kees; Eid, Mushira; Elgibali, Alaa; Woidich,
Manfred; Zaborski, Andrzej (eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Vol. 4. Brill
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4. "Bosnia and Herzegovina", The European Charter for Regional Or Minority Languages: Collected
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5. Rehm, Georg; Uszkoreit, Hans, eds. (2012), "The Croatian Language in the European Information
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6. Franceschini, Rita (2014). "Italy and the Italian-Speaking Regions". In Fäcke, Christiane (ed.).
Manual of Language Acquisition (https://books.google.com/books?id=zM_mBQAAQBAJ&q=Cr
oatia+Albanian&pg=PA1) . Walter de Gruyter GmbH. p. 546. ISBN 9783110394146. "In Croatia,
Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Czech, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Macedonian, Polish,
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7. Trudgill, Peter; Schreier, Daniel (2006), "Greece and Cyprus / Griechenland und Zypern", in
Ulrich, Ammon (ed.), Sociolinguistics / Soziolinguistik, Walter de Gruyter, p. 1886,
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8. Johanson, Lars (2021), Turkic (https://books.google.com/books?id=huk9EAAAQBAJ&q=Turkis

h+is+the+largest+and+most+vigorous+Turkic+language%2C+spoken+by+over+80+million+pe
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9. [1] (https://www.meforum.org/1074/who-owns-kirkuk-the-turkoman-case) Text: Article 1 of the

declaration stipulated that no law, regulation, or official action could interfere with the rights
outlined for the minorities. Although Arabic became the official language of Iraq, Kurdish
became a corollary official language in Sulaimaniya, and both Kurdish and Turkish became
official languages in Kirkuk and Kifri.

10. "Türkmenler, Türkçe tabelalardan memnun – Son Dakika" (http://www.milliyet.com.tr/amp/duny

a/turkmenler-turkce-tabelalardan-memnun-1032324) .

11. [2] (https://unpo.org/article/538?id=538) Kurdistan: Constitution of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region

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12. "Municipal language compliance in Kosovo" (https://www.osce.org/kosovo/120010?download=t

rue) . OSCE Minsk Group. "Turkish language is currently official in Prizren and
Mamuşa/Mamushë/Mamuša municipalities. In 2007 and 2008, the municipalities of
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recognized Turkish as a language in official use."

13. [3] (http://beinmacedonia.com/languages-spoken-in-macedonia-2/) Text: Turkish is co-official

in Centar Zupa and Plasnica

14. "Romania", The European Charter for Regional Or Minority Languages: Collected Texts, Council
of Europe, 2010, pp. 135–136, ISBN 9789287166715

15. Boeschoten, Henrik. Turkic Languages in Contact.

16. "The Muslim Minority of Greek Thrace" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170701074825/http://w

ww.hri.org/MFA/foreign/musminen.htm) . Archived from the original (https://www.hri.org/MFA/
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17. "As the E.U.'s Language Roster Swells, So Does the Burden" (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0
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18. Aalto, P. "Iranian Contacts of the Turks in Pre-Islamic times," in Studia Turcica, ed. L. Ligeti,
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19. Benzing, J. Einführung in das Studium der altäischen Philologie und der Turkologie, Wiesbaden,
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21. Erdal, Marcel (March 2004). A Grammar Of Old Turkic.

22. "A Database of Turkic Runiform Inscriptions" (http://www.runiform.lingfil.uu.se/) .

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25. Glenny 2001, p. 99

26. Evliyâ Çelebi Seyahatnâmesi: III (https://archive.org/details/EvliyelebiSeyahatnmesiIII/page/n17

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27. See Lewis (2002) for a thorough treatment of the Turkish language reform.

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28. Turkish Language Association. "Türk Dil Kurumu – Tarihçe (History of the Turkish Language
Association)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070316024438/http://www.tdk.gov.tr/TR/BelgeG
oster.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFFAAF6AA849816B2EF2858DA18F4388CDD) (in Turkish).
Archived from the original (http://www.tdk.gov.tr/TR/BelgeGoster.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFFAA
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29. Szurek, Emmanuel (2015-02-17). Aymes, Marc (ed.). Order and Compromise: Government
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30. See Lewis (2002): 2–3 for the first two translations. For the third see Bedi Yazıcı. "Nutuk:
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g/web/20070928221336/http://www.nutuk.org/) (in Turkish). Archived from the original (htt
p://www.nutuk.org/) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-09-28.

31. "Öz Türkçeleştirme Çalışmaları" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190714065848/https://www.c

okbilgi.com/yazi/oz-turkcelestirme-calismalari/) . Çok Bilgi. Archived from the original (http://
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32. Mütercim Asım (1799). Burhân-ı Katı Tercemesi (in Turkish). İstanbul.

33. "Iraq" (https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/Arabs#toc22939) . Encyclopedia Britannica.

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34. See for example citations given in Cindark, Ibrahim/Aslan, Sema (2004): Deutschlandtürkisch?
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36. Kurdish, Northern (https://www.ethnologue.com/language/kmr/25) at Ethnologue (25th ed.,

2022)  

37. Safarova, Durna (2017-02-28). "Azerbaijan Grapples With the Rise of Turkish Language" (http
s://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-grapples-with-the-rise-of-turkish-language) . Eurasianet.
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38. "Kosovo" (https://www.britannica.com/place/Kosovo#toc296713) . Encyclopedia Britannica.

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39. "Kosovo starts using Turkish as fifth official language in documents" (https://www.dailysabah.c
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42. The name TDK itself exemplifies this process. The words tetkik and cemiyet in the original name
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43. Campbell, George (1995). "Turkish". Concise compendium of the world's languages. London:
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50. Brendemoen, B. (1996). Phonological Aspects of Greek-Turkish Language Contact in Trabzon.

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55. Lewis 2001, pp. 93–4, 6

56. "Sesler ve ses uyumları "Sounds and Vovel karmony" " (https://web.archive.org/web/20120728
093237/http://www.imla.dilimiz.com/TDK/unsuzlerinnitelikleri.HTM) (in Turkish). Turkish
Language Association. Archived from the original (http://www.imla.dilimiz.com/TDK/unsuzlerin
nitelikleri.HTM) on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2013-01-13.

57. "Turkish Consonant Mutation" (http://turkishbasics.com/grammar/consonant-mutation.php) .

turkishbasics.com.

58. Lewis 2001, p. 10

59. The vowel represented by ⟨ı⟩ is also commonly transcribed as ⟨ɨ⟩ in linguistic literature.

60. Goksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005). Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. pp. 24–25.
ISBN 0-415-11494-2.

61. Khalilzadeh, Amir (Winter 2010). "Vowel Harmony in Turkish". Karadeniz Araştırmaları: Balkan,
Kafkas, Doğu Avrupa Ve Anadolu İncelemeleri Dergisi. 6 (24): 141–150.

62. Mundy, C. Turkish Syntax as a System of Qualification. Oxford, 1957, pp. 279–305.

63. Deny, J. Grammaire de la langue turque. Paris, 1963.

64. von Gabain, A. Alttürkische Grammatik. Leipzig, 1950.

65. Lewis 1953, p. 21

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66. For the terms twofold and fourfold, as well as the superscript notation, see Lewis (1953):21–22.
In his more recent works Lewis prefers to omit the superscripts, on the grounds that "there is no
need for this once the principle has been grasped" (Lewis [2001]:18).

67. Underhill, Robert (1976). Turkish Grammar. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. p. 25.
ISBN 0-262-21006-1.

68. In modern Turkish orthography, an apostrophe is used to separate proper names from any
suffixes.

69. Husby, Olaf. "Diagnostic use of nonword repetition for detection of language impairment
among Turkish speaking minority children in Norway" (https://www.academia.edu/3029750) .
Working Papers Department of Language and Communication Studies NTNV. 3/2006: 139–149 –
via Academia.edu.

70. Boeschoten, Hendrik; Johanson, Lars; Milani, Vildan (2006). Turkic Languages in Contact. Otto
Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-05212-2.

71. Goksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005). Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge.
ISBN 0-415-11494-2.

72. Underhill, Robert (1976). Turkish Grammar. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
ISBN 0-262-21006-1.

73. Thompson, Sandra (April 1978). "Modern English from a Typological Point of View: Some
Implications of the Function of Word Order". Linguistische Berlichte. 1978 (54): 19–35 – via
ProQuest.

74. Erguvanlı, Eser Emine (1984). The Function of Word Order in Turkish Grammar. Linguistics Vol.
106. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09955-9.

75. Kiliçasaslan, Yılmaz. "A Typological Approach to Sentence Structure in Turkish" (http://www.tur
kofoni.org/files/a_typological_approach_to_sentence_structure_in_turkish-yilmaz_kili_arslan_
trakya_uni.pdf) (PDF).

76. This section draws heavily on Lewis (2001) and, to a lesser extent, Lewis (1953). Only the most
important references are specifically flagged with footnotes.

77. see Lewis (2001) Ch XIV.

78. "The prefix, which is accented, is modelled on the first syllable of the simple adjective or adverb
but with the substitution of m, p, r, or s for the last consonant of that syllable." Lewis (2001):55.
The prefix retains the first vowel of the base form and thus exhibits a form of reverse vowel
harmony.

79. This "splendid word" appeared at the time of Bayram, the festival marking the end of the month
of fasting. Lewis (2001):287.

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80. "İmlâ Kilavuzu" (https://web.archive.org/web/20111006001226/http://www.dilimiz.com/dil/imlak

ilavuzu/TDK/imlaanasayfa.htm) . Dilimiz.com. Archived from the original (http://www.dilimiz.c
om/dil/imlakilavuzu/TDK/imlaanasayfa.htm) on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2011-11-03.

81. Because it is also used for the indefinite accusative, Lewis uses the term "absolute case" in
preference to "nominative". Lewis (2001):28.

82. Lewis points out that "an indefinite izafet group can be turned into intelligible (though not
necessarily normal) English by the use of a hyphen". Lewis (2001): 42.

83. The examples are taken from Lewis (2001): 41–47.

84. For other possible permutations of this vehicle, see Lewis (2001):46.

85. "It is most important to note that the third-person suffix is not repeated though theoretically one
might have expected Ankara [Kız Lisesi]si." Lewis (2001): 45 footnote.

86. Note the similarity with the French phrase un m'as-tu-vu "a have-you-seen-me?", i.e., a vain and
pretentious person.

87. The term substantival sentence is Lewis's. Lewis(2001:257).

88. Demir, Celal (2007). "Türkiye Türkçesi Gramerlerinde İsim Tamlaması Sorunu ve Bir Tasnif
Denemesi" (http://turkoloji.cu.edu.tr/YENI%20TURK%20DILI/celal_demir_gramer_isim_tamlam
asi_sorunu.pdf) [The Problem of Adjective in Turkish: An Attempt of Classification] (PDF). Türk
Dünyası İncelemeleri Dergisi [Journal of Turkish World Studies] (in Turkish). 7 (1): 27–54.
Retrieved 2013-03-29.

89. Yüksel Göknel:Turkish Grammar (https://tr.scribd.com/doc/115291192/TURKISH-GRAMMAR-UP

DATED-ACADEMIC-EDITION-YUKSEL-GOKNEL-OCTOBER-2012-signed-pdf)

90. "Turkish Studies Vol 7/3" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130313043006/http://www.turkishstu

dies.net/Makaleler/1934555583_85Kad%c4%b1u%20Spartak_S-1593-1603.pdf) (PDF) (in
Turkish). Archived from the original (http://www.turkishstudies.net/Makaleler/1934555583_85
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91. "Dersimiz Edebiyat Online course" (http://www.dersimizedebiyat.com/icerik_detay.asp?icr=63

&bs=S%F6zc%FCk%20(%20Kelime%20)%20T%FCrleri%20-%20Fiiller%20(%20Eylemler%2
0)) (in Turkish). Dersimizedebiyat.com. Retrieved 2013-03-29.

92. The conventional translation of the film title Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam, The Man Who Saved the
World, uses the past tense. Semantically, his saving the world takes place though in the
(narrative) present.

93. See Lewis (2001):163–165, 260–262 for an exhaustive treatment.

94. For the terms personal and relative participle see Lewis (1958):98 and Lewis (2001):163
respectively. Most of the examples are taken from Lewis (2001).

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95. This more complex example from Orhan Pamuk's Kar (Snow) contains a nested structure: [which
he knew [were approaching]]. Maureen Freely's more succinct and idiomatic translation is the
days in prison he knew lay ahead. Note that Pamuk uses the spelling hapisane.

96. From the perspective of Turkish grammar yaklaştığını anladığı is exactly parallel to babasını
gördüğüm ("whose father I saw"), and could therefore be paraphrased as "whose approaching
he understood".

97. "Büyük Türkçe Sözlük Turkish Language Association" (https://web.archive.org/web/201303280

02715/http://tdkterim.gov.tr/bts/) (in Turkish). Tdkterim.gov.tr. Archived from the original (htt
p://tdkterim.gov.tr/bts/) on 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-03-29.

98. Goksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005). Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. pp. 43–48.
ISBN 0-415-11494-2.

99. Zimmer & Orgun (1999:155)

100. Dilaçar, Agop (1977). "Atatürk ve Yazım" (http://www.dildernegi.org.tr/TR/BelgeGoster.aspx?F6

E10F8892433CFFAAF6AA849816B2EFC3C6D81741DBEB05) . Türk Dili (in Turkish). 35 (307).
ISSN 1301-465X (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1301-465X) . Retrieved 2007-03-19.

101. Coulmas 1989, pp. 243–244

102. In modern Turkish spelling: elma ağaçtan ırak düşmez.

103. Celia Kerslake; Asli Goksel (11 June 2014). Turkish: An Essential Grammar (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=-DbJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12) . Routledge. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-134-04218-0.

104. Lewis (2001):3–7. Note that in these cases the circumflex conveys information about the
preceding consonant rather than the vowel over which it is written.

105. "Northern village of Kuşköy still communicates with amazing Turkish whistling language" (http
s://www.dailysabah.com/life/2016/02/17/northern-village-of-kuskoy-still-communicates-with-a
mazing-turkish-whistling-language) . The Daily Sabah. February 16, 2016.

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Further reading

• Eyüboğlu, İsmet Zeki (1991). Türk Dilinin Etimoloji Sözlüğü [Etymological Dictionary of
the Turkish Language] (in Turkish). Sosyal Yayınları, İstanbul. ISBN 978975-7384-72-4.

• Özel, Sevgi; Haldun Özen; Ali Püsküllüoğlu, eds. (1986). Atatürk'ün Türk Dil Kurumu ve
Sonrası [Atatürk's Turkish Language Association and its Legacy] (in Turkish). Bilgi
Yayınevi, Ankara. OCLC 18836678 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/18836678) .

• Püsküllüoğlu, Ali (2004). Arkadaş Türkçe Sözlük [Arkadaş Turkish Dictionary] (in
Turkish). Arkadaş Yayınevi, Ankara. ISBN 975-509-053-3.

• Rezvani, B. "Türkçe Mi: Türkçe’deki İrani (Farsca, Dimilce, Kurmançca) Orijinli kelimeler
Sözlüğü.[Turkish title (roughly translated): Is this Turkish? An etymological dictionary of
originally Iranic (Persian, Zazaki, and Kurmanji Kurdish) words]." (2006).

External links

• Turkish dictionaries (https://curlie.org/Reference/Dictionaries/World_Languages/T/Turki

sh) at Curlie

• Turkish language (https://curlie.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Na

tural/Altaic/Turkic/Turkish) at Curlie

• Swadesh list of Turkish basic vocabulary words (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendi

x:Turkish_Swadesh_list) (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix (https://en.wiktion
ary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists) )

• Turkish Language: Resources – University of Michigan (http://www.umich.edu/~turkish/l

angres_tr.html)

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Turkish language at Wikipedia's sister projects:   Definitions from Wiktionary

  Media from Commons

News from Wikinews
 
  Quotations from Wikiquote

  Texts from Wikisource

  Textbooks from Wikibooks

  Phrasebook from Wikivoyage

  Resources from Wikiversity

  Turkish Edition from Wikipedia

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