Proto-Turkic/Alphabet

Hi! Welcome to the Proto-Turkic alphabet. Alphabet Since Proto-Turkic is a reconstructed language like other proto-languages, it is expressed in Romanization, that is, with Latin letters. Uppercase Lowercase Pronunciation IPA value Closest English approximation A a /ä/ father Ā ā /äː/ Same as above but longer Ạ ạ /ə/ strut Ạ̄ ạ̄ /əː/ Same as above but longer Ӑ ӑ (unclear) B b /b/ bird Č č /tʃ/ check D d /d/ dark E e /ɛ/ met Ē ē /ɛː/ Same as above but longer Ẹ ẹ /e/ Australian bed, or same as below but shorter Ẹ̄ ẹ̄ /eː/ somewhat like vein Ӗ ӗ (unclear) G g /ɡ/ guard H h /h/ heart I i/i/Same as below but shorter Ī ī/iː/see Ï ï/ɨ/roses Ï̄ ï̄/ɨː/Same as above but longer K k/k/car L l/l/loaf Ĺ ĺ/lʲ/somewhat like million M m/m/mother N n/n/nap Ń ń/nʲ/Spanish ñ, somewhat like Tonya Ŋ ŋ/ŋ/song O o/o/Same as below but shorter Ō ō/oː/somewhat like bowl Ö ö/ø/like German schön, French bleu Ȫ ȫ/øː/Same as above but longer P p/p/part R r/r/rolled r Ŕ ŕ/rʲ/see above, but with a short y S s/s/super T t/t/tongs U u/u/Same as below but shorter Ū ū/uː/somewhat like goose Ü ü/y/like German küssen, French sur Ǖ ǖ/yː/Same as above but longer Y y/j/yellow Unlike today's Turkic languages, there are no /z/ and /š/ sounds in Proto-Turkic. Instead, there are palatalized sounds /ŕ/ and /ĺ/ whose later became /z/ and /š/ in Common Turkic, but /r/ and /l/ instead in Oghur languages. The letters ⟨J j⟩, however, are usually used over ⟨Y y⟩. Diacritics Carons Caron on the letter c ⟨č⟩ is pronounced /tʃ/ as in charge. Macrons Vowel letters with lines on them give the same sound as letters without, but are pronounced longer. Dots Dots below on the letters ⟨ạ⟩ and ⟨ẹ⟩ represents a schwa /ə/ and a closed /e/, respectively. Breves The usage of breves on the letters ⟨ă⟩ and ⟨ĕ⟩ is unclear. Next Lesson: Phonology