Help:IPA/Turkish

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Turkish language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-tr}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

For a more in-depth coverage of the sounds of Turkish, see Turkish phonology.

Consonants
IPA Example English
approximation
b About this soundbebek about
β vücut[1] like vase, but with no lips touching teeth
c About this soundşekil[2] skew
d About this soundmadde ado
About this soundocak jump
f far food
ɡ gam[2] ago
ɟ About this soundgerçek[2] argue
h About this soundanahtar home
j About this soundhayat [3] yes
k About this soundkabak[2] score
l About this soundbilinç[4] late
ɫ About this soundkulak[2] tail
m About this soundcuma much
n About this soundnesne not
ɲ engin[5] like canyon
ŋ yangın[6] wing
p About this soundpazar span
ɾ About this soundanahtarlar AmE pretty or Scottish r
s About this soundsinek send
ʃ About this soundkişi shoe
t About this soundTürkçe stable
About this soundçivi change
v About this soundçivi[1] vase
z About this soundpazar zone
ʒ jilet leisure
Vowels
IPA Example English
approximation
ä About this soundkabak somewhat like father
æ About this sounderkek[7] cat
About this sounderkek between bed and hey
i About this soundçivi creek but shorter
About this soundtokmak between story and know
ø̞ About this soundözgürlük rounded /e̞/
u About this soundruh soup but shorter
ɯ About this soundkış unrounded /u/
y About this soundTürkçe rounded /i/
Suprasegmentals
IPA Examples
ˈ torbalı [toɾbaˈɫɯ] 'with bag'
Torbalı [ˈtoɾbaɫɯ] (a place name)[8]
ː â, î, û,[9] ğ[3] lan About this sound[oːˈɫan] 'boy'

Notes

  1. ^ a b /v/ surfaces as [β] when either preceded or followed by a rounded vowel (but not when intervocalic).
  2. ^ a b c d e [c~k], [ɟ~ɡ], and [l~ɫ] contrast only in loanwords before ⟨â, û⟩ vs. ⟨a, u⟩. In native words, [c, ɟ, l] occur before front vowels ([æ, e, i, œ, y]) and [k, ɡ, ɫ] occur before back vowels ([a, o, u, ɯ]); word-finally or preconsonantally, [c, ɟ, l] occur after front vowels and [k, ɡ, ɫ] occur after back vowels.
  3. ^ a b In Turkish, the letter ⟨ğ⟩ (also called yumuşak g, 'soft g') indicates a number of different sounds, depending on context:
    • in syllable-initial positions, is silent and indicates a syllable break, for example: ağır ('heavy') [aˈɯɾ], ağa ('Agha') [aˈa].
    • in other positions, indicates the lengthening of the preceding vowel, for example: dağ ('mountain') [daː], doğru ('true') [doːɾu].
      • if the lengthened vowel is /e/, it sounds like [j], for example: eğlence ('fun') [ejlænˈdʒe]
    • in proper names where it may appear following a consonant, it is treated as a ⟨g⟩, for example: Olğun [oɫˈɡun]
  4. ^ [l] is more accurately described as palatalized postalveolar [ʎ̟], but it is conventionally transcribed with ⟨l⟩.
  5. ^ [ɲ] appears as an allophone of /n/ before the consonants [ɟ] and [c].
  6. ^ [ŋ] appears as an allophone of /n/ before the consonants [ɡ] and [k].
  7. ^ Allophone of /e/ before sonorants [l, m, n, ɾ] in the same syllable, and in the suffix -mez.
  8. ^ In Turkish proper, proper nouns are typically stressed on the second or third last syllable (see Sezer stress), and other words (excepting certain unstressed suffixes and stressed verb tenses) are stressed on the last syllable.
  9. ^ Düzeltme işareti (Turkish for "correction mark") ⟨ˆ⟩ is a sign which indicates both the vowel length and indicates if the letter ⟨k⟩ represents [c], the letter ⟨g⟩ represents [ɟ] or the letter ⟨l⟩ represents [l] before back vowels [a] and [u].
    Yet the düzeltme işareti is used primarily to indicate palatalization, instead of length. For example, the word katil means "murder" when it is pronounced as [kaˈtil], but it means "killer" when it is pronounced as [kaːˈtil]. The letter ⟨a⟩ is left unmarked even if it is long because the sound /k/ does not become /c/ in this case.
    ⟨î⟩ is an exception, as it indicates only the vowel length.