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A Phonological Analysis of Soft <G> in Şanlıurfa Dialect of Turkish: a True Consonant

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A Phonological Analysis of Soft <G> in Şanlıurfa Dialect of Turkish: a True Consonant A phonological analysis of soft <g> in Şanlıurfa dialect of Turkish: a true consonant MUSTAFA DURMAZ INTRODUCTION The status of the phoneme corresponding to the Turkish grapheme soft <g> is ambiguous, therefore there have been different treatments regarding its nature and varying behaviors in morphologically and phonologically derived environments (Kabak 2007). ● It does not surface at the segmental level, therefore it is deleted (Göksel and Kerslake 2005). ● It is a velar fricative when it is preceded by a vowel or when it is in intervocalic position (Ergin 2012). ● It is not a consonant but a semi vowel, and it assimilates to the adjacent vowel (Demircan (2002) and Karaağaç (2008). ●It is considered to be a glide by some. (Selen 1979) • Clearly, much remains to be answered regarding the status of the phoneme this grapheme corresponds to in Turkish. INTRODUCTION • Research (Demircan, 2002; Inkelas, 2009; Karaağaç, 2008; Kornfilt,1997; Göksel & Kerslake, 2005) investigating the nature of soft <g> have usually focused on the Istanbul dialect without giving much attention to the dialects which are spoken throughout the country. • Other dialects could provide some novel insights into the formal status of this phoneme. • This study aims to examine the nature of the phoneme corresponding to soft <g> grapheme in Şanlıurfa dialect of Turkish. • Main question: Is there any difference between the consonantal features of the phoneme corresponding to soft <g> in Standard Turkish and Şanlıurfa dialect of Turkish? SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE SANLIURFA DIALECT • The Şanlıurfa dialect is one of the many dialects of Turkish which are spoken in Turkey. Şanlıurfa is a city located in south-east part of Turkey (bordering with Syria) and it is predominantly populated by Kurdish people, as well as Turkish (and some speakers of Arabic). • While standard Turkish has both rounding harmony and backness harmony, the Şanlıurfa dialect only has backness harmony, as can be seen in table(1 and 2). Gloss Words in St. Turksih Sanliurfa Dative Locative Ablative dialect(nominative) 1)water melon /kar.puz/ [kɑr.pɯz] [kɑr.pɯz.dɑ] [kɑr.pɯz.dɑn] [kɑr.pɯz. ɑ] 2) tongue /dil/ [dil] [dil. ɛ] [dil.dɛ] [dil.dɛn] 3) grape /y.zym/ [y.zɯm] [y.zɯm. ɛ] [y.zɯm.dɛ] [y.zɯm.dɛn] 4) twin /i.kiz/ /i.kɯz/ /i.kɯz. ɛ/ /i.kɯz. dɛ/ /i.kɯz. dɛn/ 5) wood /o.dun/ [o.dɯn] [o.dɯn. ɑ] [o.dɯn.dɑ] [o.dɯn.dɑn] 6) light /ɯ.ʃɯk/ /ɯ.ʃɯx/ /ɯ.ʃɯ. ɣɑ/ /ɯ.ʃɯ. ɣdɑ/ /ɯ.ʃɯ. ɣdɑn/ ●/ɰ/ vowel remains neutral and does not participate in vowel harmony. However, the backness harmony started by initial vowel in the word spreads to the vowels in suffixes as in (3,4,5 and, 6) ●The accusative case /ɰ/ in Sanliurfa dialect does not even agree even with backness harmony, it remains neutral. Sanliurfa Gloss Words dialect(nominative) Accusative 1) ‘grape /y.zym/ /y.zɯm/ [y.zɯm. ɯ] 2)` tongue ` /dil/ /dil/ [dil. ɯ] 3)‘water melon’ /kɑr-puz/ /kɑr-pɯz/ [kɑr-pɯz. ɯ] METHODOLOGY • Participants: • One male and one female native speaker of Sanliurfa dialect • Male participant is 30 years old and female participant is 28 years old. • Stimuli: • Target words including the phoneme corresponding to soft <g> were presented in Sanliurfa dialect. ●The stimuli were inserted in a carrier sentence, along with some filler sentences. And participants were asked to read aloud these sentences twice. - `Ben sana……….. dedim. `I told you ……`. The Phonological Comparison of Soft <g> in Standard Turkish and in the Şanlıurfa Dialect of Turkish: ● In Standard Turkish soft <g> can appear in word final position, where it is not articulated but lengthens the pronunciation of preceding vowels (1,2). ● In Şanlıurfa dialect, soft <ɡ> can appear in word final position, and it is articulated as /χ/ when preceded by [+back] vowels and is articulated as a voiced velar-plosive /ɡ/ when preceded by a [-back] vowel either in word final position or elsewhere. Gloss word Nominative (St. Turkish) Şanlıurfa Dialect 1) garden/bound bağ [ba:] [bɑχ] 2) needle tığ [tɯ:] [tɯχ] 3) raw çiğ [t͡ʃy: ] [t͡ʃyɡ] 4) entartainment eğlence [ɛ:.lɛn.cɛ] or [ɛɣ.lɛn.cɛ]* [ɛɡ.lɛn.cɛ] *possible (Kornfilt, 1997), but not typical. ● In Ottoman Turkish, soft /g/ alternated between two variants, in different vowel contexts (Logacev ; Fuchs; Żygis 2014): In the environment of front vowels, it was /ɡ/ and in back vowel contexts, it was /χ/. ● Soft <g> is articulated as /χ/ in word final position when preceded by a [+back] vowel. When it is followed by a vowel it receives voicing and pronounced as a voiced velar fricative [ɣ]. Gloss word Nominative (St. Turkish) Şanlıurfa Dialect Dative case 1) garden/bound bağ [ba:] [bɑχ] [bɑ. ɣa] 2) needle tığ [tɯ:] [tɯχ] [tɯ. ɣa] ● Final devoicing: soft /g/ is a voiced velar fricative [ɣ], but it gets devoiced when it is in word-final position as in (1,2) above. / ɣ / --> [-voice] / ___ # 3) raw çiğ [t͡ʃy: ] [t͡ʃyɡ] [t͡ʃyɡ.ɛ] ● Soft /g/ becomes a voiced velar plosive/ɡ/ when followed by [-back] V as in (3). ●Soft is underlying a voiced velar fricative; it has two allophones: voiceless velar fricative and voiced velar fricative plosive /g/. ● Soft <g> and regular /ɡ/ constitute the minimal pairs seen in (4,5,6 and 7). 4) raw [xɑm] 5) sorrow [ɡam] 6) news [xɛbɛr] 7) you die [gɛbɛr] ● This data suggests that they are separate phonemes but they are partially overlapping. ● In standard Turkish, soft <g> can also appear in intervocalic position. When the preceding vowels and the following vowels are the same, soft <g> is not pronounced or becomes less audible, and it lengthens the pronunciation of the vowel as seen (1,2,and 5). ● If the following vowel is different from preceding one, then soft <g> triggers the articulation of a diphthong (Ergenç, 1989), as in (3 and 4). ●The (Ergenç, 1989), analysis raises another problem due to the phonotactic constraints of Turkish dictating that two vowels cannot be next to each other in native words (except loan words such as `saat & müracaat). Gloss word Nominative (St. Şanlıurfa Şanlıurfa Dialect Turkish) Dialect 1)tree ağaç [a:at͡ʃ] ağaç [ɑɣɑt͡ʃ] 2)vapor buğu [bu:u] buğı [bu.ɣɯ] 3)deaf sağır [sa. ɯr] sağır [sɑ.ɣɯr] 4)to smash (dough) yoğurmak [jo.ur.mak] yoğırmak [jo.ɣɯr.mɑk] 5) rasp eğe [ ɛ: ɛ] eğe [ ɛ.g ɛ] 6) if eğer [ ɛ: ɛɾ] eğer [ ɛ.g ɛɾ] ● In intervocalic position, the Şanlıurfa dialect does not allow the deletion of soft <g>. When it is preceded by a back vowel and followed by a vowel, it is pronounced as a voiced velar fricative [ɣ] as in [1,2,3, and 4]. If it is preceded by a front vowel and followed by a vowel, it is pronounced as [ɡ] as in [5]. ●In standard Turkish, soft <g> never occurs adjacent to voiceless stops, but instead occurs adjacent to sonorant consonants. When it is followed by sonorant consonant, it may be articulated, but it typically lengthens the preceding vowel. On the other hand, in Şanlıurfa dialect, soft <g> can appear both before a voiceless stop and a sonorant consonant as other consonants. Gloss word Nominati Plural suffix Locative Case Plural suffix Locative Case (St. Turkish) (St. Turkish) ve (St. Şanlıurfa Şanlıurfa Dialect Turkish) Dialect mountai dağ [da:] [da:.lar] or #[daɣ.lar] [ da :.da] or *[daɣ.da] [daɣ.lar] [daɣ.dɑ] n connecti bağ [ba:] [ba:.lar] or # [daɣ.lar] [ba:.lar] or *[baɣ.da] [baɣ. lar] [baɣ.da] on # possible (Kornfilt,1997), but not typical *Ungrammatical ●When <k> and <g> are in word final position and followed by a suffix which has a vowel in the onset positon as in (1), (2), and (3), velar deletion applies (Lewis, 1967; Göksel & Kerslake, 2005). Gloss Words Nominative St. Turkish St. Turkish Şanlıurfa Şanlıurfa Dialect Dialect Dative /- Dative /-A/ Genitive /-In/ Genitive /-In/ A/ 1) donkey eşek [e.ʃek] [e.ʃe.e] [e. ʃe.in] [e.ʃe. ɡe] [e. ʃe. ɡɰn] 2) stupid sɑlɑk [sɑ.lɑk] [sɑ.lɑ. ɑ] [sɑ.lɑ. ɰn] [sɑ.lɑ.ɣɑ] [sɑ.lɑ.ɣɰn] 3)sosyologist sosyoloɡ [sos. jo.lok] [sos. jo.lo.ɑ] [sos. jo.lo.un [sos. jo.loɣ.ɑ] [sos. jo.loɣ.ɰn 4) `league` /lig/ [li. ɡ] [li. ɡɛ] [li. ɡin] [li. ɡɛ] [li. ɡ ɰn] ● Unlike in Standard Turkish, the /k/ and /g/ phonemes do not trigger velar deletion in the Şanlıurfa dialect; rather, these two consonants preserve their phonetic properties. However, they demonstrate varying phonetic manifestations in different phonological environments. In word final position, a voiceless velar stop /k/ is articulated as a voiced velar stop [g] in an intervocalic position, when preceded by a front vowel as in (1) in the chart above. The /k/ consonant is pronounced as a voiceless uvular fricative [X] in word-final position when preceded by a back vowel, and when it is in intervocalic position and preceded by a back vowel, it is articulated as [ɣ], a voiced velar fricative, as in (2) above. The /g/ phoneme is pronounced as [X] in word final position, and when it is in intervocalic position and is preceded [+back] vowel, it is pronounced [ɣ] as in (3). When preceded by a [-back] vowel and followed by vowel, it is articulated as [ɡ] as in (6). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ● Unlike in Standard Turkish, soft <g> in Sanliurfa dialect always surfaces at the segmental level. ● It demonstrates behaviors like other consonants in Turkish: such as being devoiced at word final position or occurring adjacent to non-sonorant consonant. ● It is a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ and it is in complementary distribution with voiceless velar fricative /x/ (word-final & when preceded by a back vowel) and voiced velar plosive/g/ (when preceded by a front vowel).
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