Consonant Mutation
Changes in Spelling to reflect Changes in Pronunciation
In Turkish the spelling of the words is changed when the pronunciation changes. Generally this does not happen in English, when we change the pronunciation we do not change the spelling.
In fact we often change the spelling when the pronunciation is the same so that we can recognize the meaning.
A number of words can easily show this - meet vs meat, feet vs feat, right vs write, main vs mane, sea vs see, and many more.
For example, if English were written phonetically, the word does should be spelt duz.
Turkish however being a phonetically written language will make these changes in spelling.
The reason for the changes in pronunciation are only for ease of speaking and are only concerned with consonants which have voiced and unvoiced equivalents.
About Voicing of Consonants
A voiced consonant is one where the voice is used to produce the sound and an unvoiced consonant is where the voice is silent and only air is expelled to produce the sound.
The Equivalents are as follows:
In Turkish when a word ends in a consonant it is usually the Un-Voiced Form
The word for letter is mektup, but my letter is mektubum, the terminal -p has changed to -b - see equivalent chart below. This is simply because it is easier to pronounce and in Turkish the spelling must reflect this change for the rules of phonetics to operate.
| Unvoiced and Voiced Letter Equivalents |
| Unvoiced p equivalent to Voiced b |
Unvoiced f equivalent to Voiced v |
| Unvoiced ç equivalent to Voiced c |
Unvoiced s no equivalent - |
| Unvoiced t equivalent to Voiced d |
Unvoiced ş no equivalent - |
| Unvoiced k equivalent to Voiced ğ |
Unvoiced h no equivalent - |
The last three - s, ş, h - do not have a unvoiced form, as they are not really voiced consonants, but they do affect the added suffix as they are considered as unvoiced consonants:
- nefis - delicious - becomes - nefistir - it is (certainly) delicious - not nefisdir.
- sabah - morning - becomes - sabahtan - from morning - not sabahdan
- güneş - sun - becomes - güneşten - from the sun - not güneşden
Thanks to Dan Kneezel for corrections to this section - JG - 17th Aug.2006.
Examples of Changes
Whenever unvoiced -k terminates a word it nearly always changes to voiced -ğ when suffixes beginning in a vowel are affixed to that word. The exceptions where no change is made are very few and will not be discussed here.
Words ending in unvoiced -K change to voiced -Ğ- when a vowel is added
| Consonant Mutation Examples |
| köpek - dog |
köpeğim - my dog |
| bacak - leg |
bacağın - your leg |
| topuk - ankle |
topuğu - his ankle |
| bilek - wrist |
bileğimiz - our wrists |
| gözlük - spectacles |
gözlüğünüz - your spectacles |
| durak - bus stop |
durağa - to the bus stop |
| görecek - will see |
göreceğim - I shall see |
| yaptık - we did |
yaptığımız - that which we did |
| bardak - glass (tumbler) |
bardağı - his glass |
The consonant change from unvoiced -k to voiced -ğ- when adding suffixes is the most widespread mainly because so many Turkish words end in a terminal -k
A Special Case Exception
If the word ends in -nk. Then the terminal -k changes directly to a unvoiced -g as it is totally impossible to utter the letter cluster -nğ plus an added vowel.
| Examples where terminal -nk changes to -ng when adding a vowel |
| denk - bale, equation |
becomes |
dengim - my bale |
| ahenk - harmony, accord |
becomes |
ahengi - its harmony |
| kepenk - shutter |
becomes |
kepenginiz - your shutter |
| renk - color |
becomes |
rengimiz - our colour |
Some other Minor Consonant Changes
Some of the other unvoiced consonants which change to their voiced form in similar fashion are as follows:
- -p changes to -b in front of suffixed vowels
- -ç changes to -c in front of suffixed vowels
- -t changes to -d in front of suffixed vowels
Further Examples of Consonant Change
| Further Consonant Mutation Examples |
| kitap - book |
kitabın - your book |
| öğüt - advice |
öğüdüm - my advice |
| tat - taste |
tadı - its taste |
| ilaç - medicine |
ilacı - his medicine |
| ağaç - tree |
ağacın - the tree's |
Single Syllable Word Roots
The general rule is that single syllable words do not change their final unvoiced consonants in line with the general rule, hence:
| Unvoiced Roots - Single Syllable Words |
| ak - white |
akı - the white/his white |
| at - horse |
atı - the horse/his horse |
| ek - addition |
eki - the addition/its addition |
| et - meat |
eti - the meat/his, her, its meat |
| göç - migration |
göçü - the migration |
| ip - rope |
ipi - rope |
| kaç? - how many? |
kaçıncı? - which one? |
| kök - root |
kökü - the root/its root |
| ok - arrow |
oku - the arrow/his arrow |
| ot - grass |
otu - the grass/its grass |
| saç - hair |
saçı - the hair/his, her hair |
| sap - handle |
sapı - the handle/its handle |
| suç - fault |
suçu - the fault/his,her, its fault |
| süt - milk |
sütü - the milk/his, her its milk |
| üç - three |
üçü - the three/trio |
But of course there are some exceptions to this rule where a single syllable word does take on its voiced form when adding a vowel suffix:
| Voiced Roots - Single Syllable Words |
| but - thigh |
budu - the thigh/his,her,its thigh |
| dip - bottom/base |
dibi - the bottom/the base/its bottom |
| çok - a lot/much/very |
çoğu - the lot/his, her, its lot |
| gök - sky |
göğü - the sky/its sky |
| kap - vessel |
kabı - the vessel/his vessel |
| kurt - worm/wolf |
kurdu - the worm, the wolf/his wolf |
| uç - point/tip/end |
ucu - the point/his, her, its point |
| yurt - tent |
yurdu - the tent, the village |
Some Notes about Consonants in Turkish
Words can not end with the voiced consonants - b, c, d, g
Word must end in the equivalent unvoiced forms p, ç, t, k in order to finish the pronounciation without continuity thus helping the listener to determine word breaks in conversation.
Altinkum 1989
We can see from the photograph that Turkish has changed the English import of the word - Pub (public house) into a Turkish version of the word - Pup - which ends in the eqivalent unvoiced consonant -p. So - Sahil Pup - has been written for- Sahil Pub (Beach Pub).
For example - kebab - is wrong - kebap - is correct - (Although the original form of the word - kebap - is - kebab - in Arabic.)
Similarly the name - Mehmed - is wrong - Mehmet - is correct.
Some Exceptions
However there are a few words which do end in voiced consonants such as - ad, od, sac - simply to make their meaning recognizable from similar word that have a unvoiced consonant at the end. This little group of words is an exception to the general rule that words always end in a unvoiced Consonant.
Examples:
ad (isim) - first name (noun) and at (binek hayvanı) - horse (riding animal)
od (ateş) - fire and ot (bitki) - grass (plant)
sac (yassı demir) - sheet iron and saç (kıl) - hair (bristle)
Proper Names
Proper Names do not change in writing - Memed'in is only valid in spoken language. It should be written as - Mehmet'in - in writing but should be pronounced - Memedin. Another example - Burak'in - (as written) should be pronounced as - Burağin
Note that although the letter -h- is always articulated and pronounced in Turkish (it being a phonetic language) - The name Mehmet is an exception it is always pronounced as Memed (through constant usage).
