Turkish/Pronunciation and Alphabet/A-I

top Pronunciation and Alphabet/İ-R Contributions to this Wikibook Pronunciation and Alphabet The alphabet in Turkish is based on the Latin alphabet. However, the pronunciations of the letters are a little different from English, and there are also some perhaps unfamiliar letters included, too. So, let's start learning the Turkish alphabet! A /ɑ/Open back unrounded vowel.ogg Click for soundOpen back unrounded vowel.ogg 50px Letter is named 'a'. Pronounced like the a in father, but shorter. It's a back vowel. (You'll see why this is important in later lessons) For example: Ankara (Capital city of Turkey) /ˈɑnkɑɾɑ/ akvaryum aquarium /ɑkˈvɑɾjum/ aktif active /ɑkˈtif/ Asya Asia /ˈɑsjɑ/ Avrupa Europe /ˈɑvɾupɑ/ Amerika Birleşik Devletleri United States of America /ˈɑmɛɾikɑ ˈbiɾlɛʃikʲ ˈdɛvlɛtlɛɾi/ B /b/Voiced bilabial plosive.ogg Click for soundVoiced bilabial plosive.ogg 50px Named be. Pronounced like the b in big. Devoices to 'p' in end of the word. For example: bar bar /bɑɾ/ baba father /bɑbɑ/ başarı success (noun) /bɑʃɑɾɯ/ baklava baklava (a Turkish dessert) /bɑkɫɑva/ bir one /biɾ/ beyaz white /bɛjaz/ C /dʒ/Voiced_palato-alveolar_affricate.ogg Click for soundVoiced_palato-alveolar_affricate.ogg 50px Named ce. Now things have started to go different, here! Be careful, in Turkish, c is pronounced sort of like the j in jelly. Devoices to 'ç' in the end of word, with very few exceptions like hac hajj, pilgrimage (/hadʒ/). For example: cep telefonu mobile phone (literally pocket phone) /dʒɛp tɛlɛfonu/ cam glass /dʒɑm/ cin genie /dʒin/ ceket jacket /dʒɛkʲɛt/ cips chips /dʒips/ cokey jockey /dʒokʲɛj/ Ç /tʃ/Voiceless_palato-alveolar_affricate.ogg Click for soundVoiceless_palato-alveolar_affricate.ogg 50px Named çe. This is pronounced like the ch in chocolate. For example: çan bell /tʃɑn/ çam pine (tree) /tʃɑm/ çene chin /tʃɛˈnɛ/ çay tea /tʃɑj/ çocuk child /tʃoˈdʒuk/ Çin China /tʃin/ D /d/Voiced alveolar plosive.ogg Click for soundVoiced alveolar plosive.ogg 50px Named de. This is pronounced like the d in delight. Devoices to 't' at the end of a word, with very rare exceptions like ad name (/ɑd/). For example: Danimarka Denmark /dɑniˈmɑɾkɑ/ deniz sea /dɛˈniz/ dün yesterday /dyn/ dört four /dœɾt/ döner Doner kebab /dœnɛɾ/ E /ɛ/Open-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg Click for soundOpen-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg 50px Named e. Sounds like "e" in "pet". Examples: egzersiz exercise /ɛɡʲzɛɾˈsiz/ ekmek exercise /ɛkʲˈmɛkʲ/ elma apple /ɛlˈmɑ/ enerji energy /ɛnɛɾˈʒi/ ev house /ˈɛv/ el hand /ˈɛl/ It is pronounced closer to the a in trap in syllables ending in r, l, m, n; and in the ending -mez. A small number of short words are an exception to this. erken early /æɾˈkæn/ eser artifact /ɛsˈæɾ / F /f/Voiceless labiodental fricative.ogg Click for soundVoiceless labiodental fricative.ogg 50px Named fe. This is pronounced like the f in forget. It's a rare sound and only occurs in loanwords. For example: faks fax /ˈfɑks/ Finlandiya Finland /finˈlɑndijɑ/ faaliyet activity /ˈfɑːlijet/ felaket catastrophe /'felɑːcet/ G /ɡ/ (with back vowels, i.e. a, ı, o and u)Voiced velar plosive.ogg Click for soundVoiced velar plosive.ogg 50px/ɡʲ/ (with front vowels i.e. e, i, ö and ü)Voiced palatal plosive.ogg Click for soundVoiced palatal plosive.ogg 50px Or ge. This is pronounced like the g in go with back vowels and more palatal with front vowels. Detones to 'k' in end of the word. In some Arabic and Persian loanwords, it might spelled palatalized with back vowels with , as in gâvur infidel /gʲɑwuɾ/. This pronunciation is indicated by adding a circumflex (^) over the next vowel. For example: gazete newspaper /ɡɑzɛtɛ/ gece night /ɡʲɛdʒɛ/ göz eye /ɡʲœz/ gangster gangster /ɡɑŋɡstɛɾ/ gram gramme /ɡɾɑm/ greyfurt grapefruit /ɡɾɛjfuɾt/ Ğ In Turkish, this is referred to as "yumuşak g" (/jumuʃak ɡʲɛ/), meaning soft g, because it's technically what it is. It's the most distinctive letter in Turkish, having no equivalent in many other languages. "Ğ" can be pronounced in three ways. If it's followed by a vowel, it's silent, and the Ğ is only there to indicate the start of a new syllable. Do not pronounce it in that position! For example, the words ağaç /ɑ.ɑtʃ/ and meğer /mɛ.ɛɾ/ are both pronounced in two syllables, with a hiatus in between two vowels. If it follows the letter "E", it sounds like a faint "Y" sound, as in the word eğri, pronounced /ɛʲɾi/. If it's followed by a consonant, or Ğ is the last letter of the word, it has no sound, but the previous vowel is held for a longer duration. For example, in the word yağmur /jɑ:muɾ/ the vowel A is longer. "Ğ" must always follow a vowel, and as such it can never be used at the beginning of a word (that's why it lacks its own name). Some more examples: dağ mountain /da:/ yoğurt yoghurt /yo.uɾt/ öğrenci student /œ:ɾɛndʒi/ iğne needle /i:nɛ/ teğmen liutenant /tɛʲmɛn/ Nevertheless, ğ is always considired a consonant for all grammatical purposes, and suffixes are declined accordingly. H /h/Voiceless glottal fricative.ogg Click for soundVoiceless glottal fricative.ogg 50px Or he. This is pronounced like the "h" in heaven. For example: hafta week /hɑftɑ/ hayır no /hɑjɯɾ/ hata mistake /hɑtɑ:/ I /ɯ/Close back unrounded vowel.ogg Click for soundClose back unrounded vowel.ogg 50px This is another one to watch out for! It's not pronounced like an i! As a matter of fact, the lowercase version of this is a dotless i (ı). It has no exact English equivalent, but is pronounced like the o in parrot or u in stirrup. The exact pronunciation is made by shaping your lips to say e (as in feet), but trying to say u (as in you) instead. It's hard, but no harm in trying! Some similar sounds in other languages are, 으 in Korean, î in Romanian, ы in Russian, and y in Polish. For example: ılık warm /ɯˈɫɯk/ ısı temperature, heat /ɯˈsɯ/ Try and learn those off by heart, particularly c, ç, ğ and ı! bottom Pronunciation and Alphabet/İ-R Introduction