Pronunciation of Turkish letters. Turkish alphabet with transcription

The writing of the Turkish language is based on the Latin writing system. The Romanization of the Turkish alphabet took place as part of the 1928 writing reform by the decree of the first president of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Up to this point in turkish the Ottoman Turkish alphabet based on the Arabic script was used. Until the 15th century, the Anatolian Turks used the Uyghur script.

The Ottoman alphabet reflected only three vowel sounds: long ā, ū, ī - and included several consonants with redundant traits, such as variants of z (which differed in Arabic, but were absent in Turkish). The lack of short vowels in the Arabic script made it unsuitable for the Turkish language, which has eight vowels.

The writing reform was an important step in the cultural reform of that period. The task was to prepare a new alphabet and select the necessary changes to the basic characters of the Latin alphabet to designate specific sounds of the Turkish language. This was entrusted to the Turkish Language Commission, which included leading linguists, academics and writers. The introduction of the new Turkish alphabet was supported by community education centers across the country through cooperation with publishing firmsand also by Ataturk himself, who traveled throughout the country, bringing new letters to the broad masses. As a result, the country experienced a significant rise in the literacy of the population and a gap between the original level of the third world country.

Today, the Turkish language has an alphabet aligned with the specific sounds of the language: spelling is based primarily on the phonetic principle, in which each phoneme corresponds to one letter, and vice versa. Most letters are used in much the same way as in english languagebut there are some exceptions. The letter c is pronounced like. The letter j, used for the phoneme [ʒ], occurs in borrowings from Persian and European languages. The letter ı (without a dot) denotes the phoneme [ɯ]. As in german, the letters ö and ü correspond to [œ] and [y]. The letter ğ, denoting the sound [ɣ], has the peculiarity of lengthening the previous vowel and assimilating the next. The letters ş and ç represent the phonemes [ʃ] and respectively. Circumflex is placed over the back vowels that follow k, g or l when these consonants represent the sounds [c], [ɟ] and [l], and mainly in Persian and Arabic loanwords. The apostrophe usually acts as a separator in proper names before suffixes, for example: İstanbul "da(in the Stambul).

Below are explanations of the typical Turkish letters and their transcriptions:

Cağaloğlu [ˈDʒaːɫoːɫu] (name of the district of Istanbul)
Çalıştığı - where / who does she / he work / worked (s)
müjde - good news
lazım - necessary
mahkûm - convict

1. Alphabet

The Turkish alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet with diacritics: ç , ğ , ö , ş , ü ... Letters differ in Turkish I ı and İ i... In borrowed words, a circumflex is sometimes placed above the back vowels that soften the previous consonant: â , î , û .

2. Transliteration

Most letters are unambiguously transmitted from Turkish into Russian:

a	→ a	g	→ r	l	→ l	s	→ from
b	→ b	h	→ x	m	→ m	ş	→ w
c	→ j	i	→ and	n	→ n	t	→ t
ç	→ h	î	→ and	o	→ about	u	→ at
d	→ d	j	→ f	p	→ p	v	→ in
f	→ f	k	→ to	r	→ r	z	→ s

3. Ğ

At the end of words always ğ → r: Altuğ → Altug.

Between the front vowel ( e, i, ö , ü ) and consonant ğ → th: Çiğdem → Chiydem.

Between the back vowel ( a, ı , o, u) and consonant ğ → r: Çağla → Chagla.

In the position between vowels, there are two possible ways of transmitting the Turkish consonant ğ In russian language. The first way is to completely skip ğ between vowels when transcribing: Boğaçhan → Boachkhan... The second way between the front vowels translates ğ → th, between the back vowels ğ → r: değer → deyer, Çağatay → Chagatai... "Transcriptor" follows the second option.

4.E, I, Ö, Ü

At the beginning of a word and after a vowel, the rules apply e → eh, ı → and, ö → about, ü → at... After consonants should be translated e → e, ı → s, ö → e, ü → yu: Idris → Idris, Öykü → Oykyu, Ergün → Ergun.

5. Combinations of Y with vowels

After consonants ye → th, ya → ya, yu (yü) → yu: Meryem → Meryem.

At the beginning of a word and after vowels ye → e, ya → i, yu (yü) → yu: Bahtiyar → Bakhtiyar.

In other cases y → th: Altay → Altai, Ayyub → Ayyub, Hayri → Hyree.

6. Circumflex

If a vowel with a circumflex follows a consonant g, k, l, then it should be transmitted â → i, û → yu... In other provisions â → a, î → and, û → at.

The writing of the Turkish language is based on the Latin writing system. The Romanization of the Turkish alphabet took place as part of the 1928 writing reform by the decree of the first president of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Up to this point, the Turkish language used the Ottoman Turkish alphabet, based on the Arabic script. Until the 15th century, the Anatolian Turks used the Uyghur script.

The writing reform was an important step in the cultural reform of that period. The task was to prepare a new alphabet and select the necessary changes to the basic characters of the Latin alphabet to designate specific sounds of the Turkish language. This was entrusted to the Turkish Language Commission, which included leading linguists, academics and writers. The introduction of the new Turkish alphabet was supported by community education centers across the country through collaboration with publishing firms, as well as by Ataturk himself, who traveled throughout the country bringing new letters to the general public. As a result, the country experienced a significant rise in the literacy of the population and a gap between the original level of the third world country.

Today, the Turkish language has an alphabet aligned with the specific sounds of the language: spelling is based primarily on the phonetic principle, in which each phoneme corresponds to one letter, and vice versa. Most letters are used in much the same way as in English, with some exceptions. The letter c is pronounced like. The letter j, used for the phoneme [ʒ], occurs in borrowings from Persian and European languages. The letter ı (without a dot) denotes the phoneme [ɯ]. As in German, the letters ö and ü correspond to [œ] and [y]. The letter ğ, denoting the sound [ɣ], has the peculiarity of lengthening the previous vowel and assimilating the next. The letters ş and ç represent the phonemes [ʃ] and respectively. Circumflex is placed over the back vowels that follow k, g or l when these consonants represent the sounds [c], [ɟ] and [l], and mainly in Persian and Arabic loanwords. The apostrophe usually acts as a separator in proper names before suffixes, for example: İstanbul "da(in the Stambul).

Below are explanations of the typical Turkish letters and their transcriptions:

Cağaloğlu [ˈDʒaːɫoːɫu] (name of the district of Istanbul)
Çalıştığı - where / who does she / he work / worked (s)
müjde - good news
lazım - necessary
mahkûm - convict

Turkish alphabet letters	The letters of the Russian alphabet, denoting approximately the same sounds	Transcription	Brief description of the sounds of the Turkish language
A a	A	[A]	More open, wider than Russian
B b	B	[Bae]	Less voiced than the corresponding Russian
C c	*	[Je]	The sound that can be conveyed by a combination of Russian letters "j"
Ç ç	H	[Che]
D d	D	[Te]
E e	E, E	[E, E]	Unmarked in the original, but "e" may sound like: - English / æ / before l, m, n, r(If after combinations er, em, en, el* no vowel follows) - / e / - in the final position (But not always, there are some exceptions, for example: güle güle (goodbye)* - / e / - in all other cases
F f	F	[Fe]
G g	D	[Ge]
Ğ ğ	*		This letter is not readable in words, it lengthens the previous consonant and gives it a throat sound
H h	X	[Heh]
I ı	S	[S]	More backward than the corresponding Russian "s"
İ i	AND	[AND]
J j	F	[Je]	Occurs in words of foreign origin
K k	TO	[Ke]	At the end of a syllable or word, softening is characteristic, which is not observed in Russian
L l	L	[Le]
M m	M	[Me]
N n	H	[Not]
O o	ABOUT	[ABOUT]
Ö ö	*		This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian "o" and "e"
P p	P	[Pe]
R r	R	[Re]	At the end of words can be pronounced like "w / w"
S s	FROM	[Behold]
Ş ş	Sh	[She]
T t	T	[Tae]	Some aspiration at the beginning of words is characteristic
U u	Have	[U]
Ü ü	*		This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian "u" and "u"
V v	IN	[Be]
Y y	*	[Yeh]
Z z	Z	[Ze]

Sign * indicates that this sound has no correspondences in Russian.

From scratch!
Ders 1

Lesson 1. Letters and sounds. Greeting.

Turkish alphabet

Letters turkish alphabet	Russian letters alphabet, designation. about the same sounds	Transk- ripcion	a brief description of sounds of Turkish
A a	A	[A]	More open, wider than Russian
B b	B	[Bae]	Less voiced than the corresponding Russian
C c	*	[Je]	The sound that can be conveyed by a combination of Russian letters "j"
Ç ç	H	[Che]
D d	D	[Te]
E e	E, E	[E, E]	Unmarked in the original, but "e" may sound like: - English / æ / before l, m, n, r - / e / - in the final position - / e / - in all other cases
F f	F	[Fe]
G g	D	[Ge]
Ğ ğ	*		This letter is not readable in words, it lengthens the previous vowel and gives it a throaty sound
H h	X	[Heh]
I ı	S	[S]	More backward than the corresponding Russian "s"
İ i	AND	[AND]
J j	F	[Je]	Occurs in words of foreign origin
K k	TO	[Ke]	At the end of a syllable or word, softening is characteristic, which is not observed in Russian
L l	L	[Le]
M m	M	[Me]
N n	H	[Not]
O o	ABOUT	[ABOUT]
Ö ö	*		This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian "o" and "e"
P p	P	[Pe]
R r	R	[Re]	At the end of words can be pronounced like "w / w"
S s	FROM	[Behold]
Ş ş	Sh	[She]
T t	T	[Tae]	Some aspiration at the beginning of words is characteristic
U u	Have	[U]
Ü ü	*		This sound can be conveyed by merging the Russian "u" and "u"
V v	IN	[Be]
Y y	*	[Yeh]
Z z	Z	[Ze]

Sign * indicates that this sound has no correspondences in Russian.

There are 29 letters in Turkish.
The vowels are - a, ı, o, u, e, i, ö, ü
The consonants are - b c ç d f g ğ h k l m n p r s ş t v y z

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Combining the letter "y" with vowels and consonants

In Turkish, when the letter "y" is combined with vowels, the so-called diphthongs appear:

1.y + vowel

Y + a \u003d ya (i):

Y + ı \u003d yı (yı):

Y + o \u003d yo (ё):

No, not available

Y + u \u003d yu (u):

Y + e \u003d ye (e):

1) eat, 2) food

Y + i \u003d yi (yi):

Twenty

Y + ö \u003d yö (yo):

Side, direction

Y + ü \u003d yü (yü):

Cargo, burden

2.vowel + y

A + y \u003d ay (ay):

Mirror

ı + y \u003d ıy (th):

O + y \u003d oh (oh):

Cove, small bay

U + y \u003d uy (yy):

Character

E + y \u003d ey (her):

I + y \u003d iy (s):

Good

ö + y \u003d öy (roughly like yoy):

Village, village

ü + y \u003d üy (roughly like yu):

3. The combination of consonants with the letter "y"

The pronunciation of some consonants in front of "y" is softened:

İspanya - [Spain]
Estonya - [Estonia]

Stress

In Turkish, in most cases, the stress falls on the last syllable of a word. The exception is some adverbs and loan words, geographical names.

Dàima - always		nàsıl - how
Bùrsa - Bursa		İ̀zmir - Izmir
Sinèma - cinema		gazète - newspaper

Additional icons used in Turkish graphics

Sometimes in Turkish graphics you can find two icons:

1. ˆ - sign of softening and continuation, lengthening. Lengthens vowels a, uafter consonants g, k, l:

Kâbus (nightmare), rüzgâr (wind), selâm (hello)

In some words, this icon plays a meaningful role. Wed:

Âlem - world
Alem - the crescent moon on the mosque
Dâhi - genius
Dahi - even, also

2. `- separator mark. Used to separate case affixes in proper names:

İstanbul`da - in Istanbul
Ahmet`in arabası - Ahmet's car

Lesson vocabulary

abla - elder sister, address to older sister
ağabey - older brother, addressing older brother
aile - a family
anne - mom, address to mother
araba - car
arkadaş - friend
baba - father, address to father
cetvel - ruler
çanta - a bag
çiçek - flower
defter - notebook
ders - lesson, lesson
dolap - cupboard

ev - house
insan - man
kalem - pen-pencil
kapı - a door
kedi - cat Kitty
kitap - book
köpek - dog
masa - table
oğul - a son
öğrenci - pupil, student
öğretmen - teacher
pencere - window
sıra - desk
sokak - the street
şehir - city

Exercise 1.1. Read the words:

Sözlük, köpek, köşe, köy, öğrenci, dört, göz, ödev, gök
Dünya, gün, düğme, büyük, güzel, üç, bütün, müdür, ülke, güneş, gün
Cetvel, pencere, ceket, gece, cam, öğrenci
Çiçek, çanta, kaç, çok, çocuk, uçak, çam
Oğul, değil, öğretmen, ağabey, öğle, dağ, buğday, yağmur, ağaç
Arkadaş, hoş, yaş, kuş, şimdi, şaka, meşe, akşam
Arı, sıra, silgi, balık, kız, iş, ılık, ışık, deniz, yıldız, sınır
Yıl, yalan, ay, yoğurt, terbiye

Exercise 1.2. Read the words:

Baba, anne, adı, araba, sözlük, cetvel, sıra, mektup, pencere, kedi, köpek, tahta, insan, an, kuzu, ders, aile, abla, defter, dünya, masa, ev, kapı, söz, çiçek, arkadaş, oğul, şehir, dolap, sokak, oda, kalem, kitap, yıldız, deniz.

Exercise 1.3. Translate the words into Turkish:

Book, door, table, mom, dad, older sister, teacher, wardrobe, window, dog, lesson, house, bag, ruler, family, student, son, flower, cat, street, city, pen, family, older brother, friend.

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used to denote objects and phenomena in Turkish bu, şu, oh.

Bu araba. - This is a car. (close)
Şu çanta. - This is a bag. (a little further)
ABOUT pencere. - It's a window. (long away)

A feature of these demonstrative pronouns is that, denoting objects (living and inanimate) and phenomena, they indicate the degree of distance between the object and the speaker, i.e. pronoun bu denotes an object located in direct, visible proximity to the speaker ( lit. this). Pronoun şu indicates that it is slightly farther from the speaker's eyes ( lit. then). Pronoun o points to objects located in the field of vision distant from the speaker. ( lit. over there). Pronoun o is also a personal pronoun of the 3rd person singular - he she it .

Dialogues

Merhaba Ahmet! (Hello Ahmet!)

Merhaba Ali! (Hello Ali!)

Nasılsın? (How are you?)

Teşekkür ederim. İyiyim. Sen nasılsın? (Thank you, I'm fine. How are you?)

Ben de iyiyim. (I'm fine too.)

Pronunciation of Turkish letters. Turkish alphabet with transcription

1. Alphabet

2. Transliteration

3. Ğ

4.E, I, Ö, Ü

5. Combinations of Y with vowels

6. Circumflex

Sound R

Combining the letter "y" with vowels and consonants

1.y + vowel

2.vowel + y

3. The combination of consonants with the letter "y"

Stress

Additional icons used in Turkish graphics

Lesson 1. Letters and sounds. Greeting.

Turkish alphabet

Combining the letter "y" with vowels and consonants

1.y + vowel

2.vowel + y

3. The combination of consonants with the letter "y"

Stress

Additional icons used in Turkish graphics

Lesson vocabulary

Demonstrative pronouns

Dialogues