User:Umbereenbmirza/sandbox

Article Evaluation

1. I found the article to be of mixed quality- there seems to be quite a lot of information in some areas and others seemed to be less informative. There also seem to be some organisational issues- for example I think the section on vocabulary should precede the section on grammar as it provides an introduction to agglutination in Turkish.
2. I saw that the article did not pass its last review to be promoted to B-class. I went over the reviewer's suggestions and based on those decided to focus on clarifying and adding to the section on Vowel Harmony, as I agreed with him that it was confusing and lacked clarity.
3. I also noticed that the article lacked a section on Turkish syntax. There is a short entry on word order within the grammar heading, however, I felt this to be inadequate and wrongly placed. So I plan to delete it from its current position and create a new section on syntax which will include and expand on the information on word order. Turkish is often viewed as a strictly SOV language, however, word order is actually much more flexible than that understanding implies. Therefore I decided to include a section on syntax, using the work of Eser Emine Erguvanli on the subject.
4. I think the section on Word formation (under Vocabulary) needs additional information on the principles of agglutination- specifically in which order morphemes are affixed. So I have decided to add to that section as well.
5. Turkish is one of the few languages of the world to have a whistled version and I thought it would be interesting to include a small section on kuş dili or the whistling language of the people of Kuşköy.

Vowels

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⟩. 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. Vowels are classified [±back], [±round] and [±high].

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.

Vowel harmony

Further information: Vowel harmony

Turkish Vowel Harmony	Front Vowels				Back Vowels
	Unrounded		Rounded		Unrounded		Rounded
Vowel	e /e/	i /i/	ü /y/	ö /ø/	a /a/	ı /ɯ/	u /u/	o /o/
Twofold (Simple system)	e				a
Fourfold (Complex system)	i		ü		ı		u

Turkish is an agglutinative language where a series of suffixes are added to the stem word; vowel harmony is a phonological process which ensures a smooth flow, requiring the least amount of oral movement as possible. Vowel harmony can be viewed as a process of assimilation, whereby following vowels take on the characteristics of the preceding vowel. It may be useful to think of Turkish vowels as two symmetrical sets: the a-undotted (a, ı, o, u) which are all back vowels, articulated at the back of the mouth; and the e-dotted (e, i, ö, ü) vowels which are articulated at the front of the mouth. The place and manner of articulation of the vowels will determine which pattern of vowel harmony a word will adopt. The pattern of vowels is shown in the table above.

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

• twofold (-e/-a): 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.

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. The 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"), kapıdır ("it is the door"), but gündür ("it is the day"), paltodur ("it is the coat").

There are several exceptions to the vowel harmony rules, which can be categorised as follows:

1. A few native root words such as anne (mother), elma (apple) and kardeş (brother). In these cases the suffixes harmonise with the final vowel.
2. Compounds such as the bu-gün (today) and baş-kent (capital). In these cases vowels are not required to harmonise between the constituent words.
3. Loanwords often don't harmonise, however, in some cases the suffixes will harmonise with the front vowel even in words that may not have a front vowel in the final syllable. Usually this occurs when the words end in a palatal [l], for example halsiz < hal + -siz "listless", meçhuldür < meçhul + -dir "it is unknown". However, affixes borrowed from foreign languages do not harmonise, such as -izm (ateizm "atheism"), -en (derived from French -ment as in taxmen "completely), anti- (antidemokratik "antidemocratic").
4. A few native suffixes are also invariable (or at least partially so) such as the second vowel in the bound auxiliary -abil, or in the marker -ken as well as in the imperfect suffix -yor. There are also a few derivational suffixes that do not harmonise such as -gen in uçgen (triangle) or altigen (hexagon).

Road sign at the European end of the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul. (Photo taken during the 28th Istanbul Marathon in 2006)

The road sign in the photograph alongside 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

Stress

Further information: Turkish phonology § Stress

Stress is usually on the last syllable in most root words. There are however, several exceptions. Exceptions include some suffix combinations and loanwords, particularly from Italian and Greek, as well as interjections, certain question words, adverbs (although not adjectives functioning as adverbs), and many proper names. While the aforementioned loanwords are usually stressed on the penultimate syllable ([ɫoˈkanta] lokanta "restaurant" or [isˈcele] iskele "quay"), the stress of proper names is less predictable ([isˈtanbuɫ] İstanbul, [ˈaŋkaɾa] Ankara) see Sezer stress.

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:

Sentence type	Turkish		English
	Subject	Predicate
Verbal	Necla	okula gitti	Necla went to school
Nominal (no verb)	Necla	oğretmen	Necla is a teacher
(copula)	Necla	ev-de-y-miş (hyphens delineate suffixes)	Apparently Necla is 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 oğretmen 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).

Yes/ No questions

In the case of a verbal sentence, a interrogative morpheme -mi is added to the end of the sentence and stands alone, for example Necla okula gitti mi? (Did Necla go to school?). In the case of a nominal sentence, then the -mi comes after the predicate but before the personal ending, so for example Necla, siz oğretmenmisiniz? (Necla, are you a teacher? using the formal formal 2nd person plural).

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, in fact it may be considered a Pragmatic Word Order type of language, one that does not rely on word order for grammatical purposes. While the basic word order in Turkish is firmly SOV, the word order may vary in particular conditions.

Immediately preverbal

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

Word Order				Focus
SOV	Ahmet Ahmet	yumurta-yı egg (accusative)	yedi ate	unmarked- Ahmet ate the egg
SVO	Ahmet	yedi	yumurta-yı	the focus is on the subject: Ahmet (it was Ahmet who ate the egg)
OVS	Yumurta-yı	yedi	Ahmet	the focus is on the object: egg (it was an egg that Ahmet ate)

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:

Sentence type	Word Order
Nominal	S-predicate	Bu ev güzelmiş (apparently this house is beautiful)	unmarked
	Predicate-s	Güzelmiş bu ev (it is apparently beautiful, this house)	it is understood that the sentence is about this house
Verbal	SOV	Bana da bir kahve getir (get me a coffee too)	unmarked
		Bana da getir bir kahve (get me one too, a coffee)	it is understood that it is a coffee that the speaker wants

Topic Shifters (or Sentence-Initial)

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. 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.

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.

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:

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 kizarkadaş (kiz+arkadaş) or black pepper karabiber (kara+biber). A few examples of compound words are given below:

Turkish	English	Constituent words	Literal meaning
pazartesi	Monday	pazar ("Sunday") and ertesi ("after")	after Sunday
bilgisayar	computer	bilgi ("information") and say- ("to count")	information counter
gökdelen	skyscraper	gök ("sky") and del- ("to pierce")	sky piercer
başparmak	thumb	baş ("prime") and parmak ("finger")	primary finger
önyargı	prejudice	ön ("before") and yargı ("splitting; judgement")	fore-judging

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	Possesive 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)

Turkish Whistling Language

Further information on whistling as a language: 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 origin Onur Güntürkün at Ruhr University, observing 31 "speakers" of kuş dili from Kuşköy (or bird's tongue as the language is called locally), and he found that the whistled language mirrored the lexical and syntactical structure of Turkish language.

Peer Review

The intended contributions at the top of your sandbox are important additions to be made to this article. I especially think that the Turkish Whistling Language is an interesting and relevant section for this article. In the introduction sentence of that section, it might be helpful to add the wikipedia link to Whistled Language so that viewers have the option to read about whistling languages if they are unfamiliar with the concept. I'm not able to identify changes that you've made to the actual article or information you've added in the sections, but the numbered intended contributions above will definitely make this article better. I especially think that your contribution to the syntax section and organization will make the stronger article.