Now we're going to talk about four-way vowel harmony
Vowel harmony in Turkish is the process by which the vowel in an ending or suffix
changes
harmonizes to become more like the vowel in the final syllable of the word that ending is attaching to
Four-way vowel harmony what we're talking about today
appears in Turkish verbs and also in a number of Turkish case endings and other suffixes
Fortunately for us it's also quite simple
We're going to look at four-way vowel harmony
using the suffix "-siz" meaning without as an example
Let's have a look
because
this is four-way vowel harmony that means that the suffix using four-way vowel harmony
will take on
One of four different forms depending on the nature of the vowel in the word
It's attaching to so for example the suffixes can appear as
"-siz, -süz, -sız or -suz" depending on what the vowel is in the final syllable of the word it's attaching to
Let's take a look at how we decide which of these four suffixes we're going to choose
For four-way vowel harmony we divide Turkish's eight different vowels into four different categories
one category for each possible form of four-way vowel harmonizing suffix can appear
That may sound a little complicated. It's really not, believe me
Let's take a look at our first category
"e" and "i" constitute the two vowels of our first category front unrounded
vowels
That just means that you articulate "e" and "i," the front unrounded
vowel in the front of your mouth and without rounding your lips
That's pretty simple now if you see "e" or "i" in the final syllable of a word
To which you want to attach a four-way vowel harmony
suffix like "-siz" in any of its forms
You're going to need to decide which form to use. Let's take a look at an example on
"anne" the Turkish word for mother
Let's say you want to use the suffix "-siz" to say "without a mother" or
"motherless" to make this adjective, "motherless"
Well look at "anne"
Hmm. There are two different vowels the only one we care about is the one in the final syllable, "e"
"e" is a front unrounded vowel
that means for four- way vowel harmony
that it's going to take the form of the suffix that
uses the corresponding vowel, so here's "e" as in "anne"
we're going to want to use the form with "i": "-siz"
So to make the adjective, "motherless" we'll choose "-siz": "annesiz"
That's not so bad. Let's take a look at another example
Let's say we want to make an adjective that means "without work." We'll start with the Turkish word for work, "iş"
The vowel in the final syllable the only syllable of the word "iş" is "i," look at our chart
front vowels unrounded here it is "i" and
unsurprisingly "i"
harmonizes
corresponds best with itself so its suffix vowel is going to be "i"
Which means for us going back to our project down here
We want to make an adjective using "-siz" that means "without iş," "without work," so we're going to say "işsiz"
That's our first category down right there. Let's take a look at the second of our four categories of vowels for four-way vowel harmony
Our second category are also front vowels. They're also articulated in the front of your mouth, but these are
rounded front vowels, that means you do round your lips when you say them our two
rounded front vowels in Turkish are "ö" and "ü"
When you see
"ö" or "ü" as the vowel in the final syllable of a word to which you want to add a suffix like "-siz"
Which takes four-way vowel harmony
That means that you want to choose the form of the suffix that contains the corresponding
harmonizing vowel for these front rounded vowels, "ö" and "ü" and that is in fact
"ü"
so let's
take an example with our
practice
suffix "-siz"
let's say
We want to make an adjective meaning "without an eye." We'll start with the Turkish word for I: "göz"
The vowel and the only and final syllable of the word "göz" is a look on our chart
Front rounded here. We go. "ö"
That's going to correspond to the suffix vowel, "ü"
What does that mean? Well let's look at our choices. We're going to choose "-süz"
"Gözsüz": Without an eye
Let's look at another example
How about if we want to make an adjective that means
"bus-less" or "without a bus"
We'll start with the Turkish word for bus: "otobüs"
We have an "ü" let's look at our chart
front vowel
't's rounded you round your lips when you say "ü"
we go
its suffix vowel is also going to be "ü" which means for us we're going to choose the form of our
suffixes which incorporates that harmonizing vowel "ü"
Otobüssüz
Now I want you to notice again both the
vowel in the suffix and the vowel and the final syllable of both of these words
Is front and rounded, they're in harmony
Let's take a look at our third category
Now we're moving on to the back vowels. These are the vowels that you articulate more towards the back of your mouth
The first category of back vowels, our third, is
back unrounded
vowels so the two vowels in Turkish that you articulate at the back of your mouth without rounding your lips
these are "a" and "ı"
When you see "a" and "ı" in the final syllable of a word you want to add a four-way vowel harmony suffix to
You're going to know that you want to choose, of the four options you have, the four ways, you're going to choose the one that
contains another
front, excuse me, another back unrounded
vowel
Look at our chart
You see "a" and "ı" in the final syllable of a word your four-way vowel
harmony suffix should also include an "ı"
Let's take a look at a concrete example
"Kitap" the word for book in Turkish
Ooh, there are two vowels in "kitap," which one are we going to look at? We only care for the purpose of
vowel harmony about this vowel here, the vowel in the final syllable of the word
Let's look for "a" our chart. It's a back unrounded
vowel that
means it's going to correspond with "ı"
which means
when we go to choose our form of "-siz" for "kitap" for an adjective to mean "bookless" we're going to choose a
form of "-siz" which contains that "ı" so
we're going to choose "-siz": "kitapsız"
Let's take a look at another example
if you want to make an adjective that means "without light" we'll start with the Turkish word for light, "ışık"
Look at that "ı"
this is a back unrounded
vowel that means again, we're going to choose the
way the form of the suffix which also contains a back unrounded vowel to
conform with four-way vowel harmony, so just make an adjective that means like "lightless" or "without light" we add
Which of these?
"-sız"
so "ışıksız"
"ışıksız": without light
We're already at our fourth and final category
for Turkish vowels in four-way vowel harmony these are the back
rounded vowels, "o" and "u"
If you see "o" or "u" in the final syllable of a Turkish word and you want to add a suffix
like "-siz" which abides by four-way vowel harmony
you're going to choose the form of the suffix which
corresponds
harmonizes best with a
back rounded vowel like "o" and "u," in other words you're going to choose a
the form of the suffix which actually contains "u" in this case "-suz"
Let's take a look at a couple of examples
"çocuk": the word for child
Let's say we want to form an adjective that means
"childless" using "-siz"
Well, let's look at our word
the vowel in the final syllable is an "u"
Look at our chart, "u" is a back
rounded vowel that means we're going to choose which of our suffixes in our four-way vowel harmony, which of these
harmonizes best with the "u" in "çocuk"
"-suz" so here we go, "çocuksuz"
Without a child or childless
One more example for our final vowel, "o"
Let's say for some mysterious reason you wanted to create an adjective that meant "without a ram,"" without a male sheep"
The word for ram in Turkish is "koç"
"koç"
Let's look at the vowel in our only and final syllable, okay its back its rounded you round your lips when you say "o" so
we need a
version of the suffix, "-siz"
Which is also
Which also contains a back rounded vowel
You take a look, the only answer is "-suz"
So "without a ram or ramless"
Would be "koçsuz"
and
that is four-way vowel harmony