Turkmen language

Turkmen
Türkmençe, Türkmen dili, Түркменче, Түркмен дили, تورکمن ﺗﻴﻠی ,تورکمنچه
Spoken in
Total speakers	ca. 4 million[1]
Language family	Altaic[2] (controversial) Turkic Oghuz Turkmen
Official status
Official language in	Turkmenistan
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1	tk
ISO 639-2	tuk
ISO 639-3	tuk
Linguasphere
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Turkmen (Latin script: türkmençe, türkmen tili, Cyrillic: түркменче, түркмен дили, Perso-Arabic: تورکمن ﺗﻴﻠی ,تورکمنچه) is the name of the national language of Turkmenistan. It is spoken by approximately 3,000,000 people in Turkmenistan, and by an additional approximately 380,000 in northwestern Afghanistan and 500,000 in northeastern Iran.^[3]

Classification, related languages and dialects

Turkmen is in the Turkic Language Family. It is a member of the southwestern Turkic sub-branch, more specifically the East Oghuz group. This group also includes Khorasani Turkic. Turkmen is closely related to Turkish and Azerbaijani, and it is for the most part mutually intelligible.

Turkmen has vowel harmony, is agglutinative, and has no grammatical gender or irregular verbs. Word order is Subject Object Verb.

Written Turkmen today is based on the Teke (Tekke) dialect. The other dialects are Nohurly, Yomud, Änewli, Hasarly, Nerezim, Gökleň, Salyr, Saryk, Ärsary and Çowdur. The Teke dialect is sometimes (especially in Afghanistan) referred to as "Chagatai", but like all Turkmen dialects it reflects only a limited influence from classical Chagatai.

Writing system

Officially, Turkmen currently is rendered in the “Täze Elipbiý”, or “New Alphabet”, which is based on the Latin alphabet. However, the old "Soviet" Cyrillic alphabet is still in wide use. Many political parties in opposition to the authoritarian rule of President Niyazov continued to use the Cyrillic alphabet on websites and publications, most likely to distance themselves from the alphabet that Niyazov created.

Before 1929, Turkmen was written in a modified Arabic alphabet. In 1929–1938 a Latin alphabet replaced it, and then the Cyrillic alphabet was used from 1938 to 1991. In 1991, the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow. It originally contained some rather unusual letters, such as the pound, dollar, yen, and cent signs, but these were later replaced by more orthodox letter symbols. In 2002, the days of the week and the months were renamed according to the ideology of Ruhnama. In July 2008 this decision was reverted.

Sounds

The following phonemes are present in the Turkmen language:

Vowels

Turkmen contains both short and long vowels. Doubling the duration of sound for a short vowel is generally how its long vowel counterpart is pronounced. Turkmen employs vowel harmony, a principle that is common in fellow Turkic languages. Vowels and their sounds are as follows:

1. For purposes of vowel harmony (see below) the central vowel [a] is considered back.

Consonants

Turkmen consonant phonemes (shown in Turkmen alphabet):

Grammar

Vowel harmony

Like other Turkic languages, Turkmen is characterized by vowel harmony. In general, words of native origin consist either entirely of front vowels (inçe çekimli sesler) or entirely of back vowels (ýogyn çekimli sesler). Prefixes and suffixes reflect this harmony, taking different forms depending on the word to which they are attached.

The infinitive form of a verb determines whether it will follow a front vowel harmony or back vowel harmony. Words of foreign origin, mainly Russian, Persian, or Arabic, do not follow vowel harmony.

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for singular and plural number and first, second, and third persons. There are 11 verb tenses: present comprehensive (long and short form), present perfect (regular and negative), future certain, future indefinite, conditional, past definite, obligatory, imperative, and intentional.

There are two types of verbs in Turkmen, distinguished by their infinitive forms: those ending in the suffix "-mak" and those ending in "-mek". -Mak verbs follow back vowel harmony, whereas -mek verbs follow front vowel harmony.

Evidentiality

Evidentiality is determined by four markers, roughly:
-dY (Direct Evidence)
-Yp-dYr (Hearsay)
-dYr-mY-näm (Indirect Evidence)
-mAlY (Must Have Been..)
Some independent particles may be said to convey evidentiality: on such word is the particle eken.

1. Aman syrkawla-p-dyr.

          Aman become sick-EV-COP
           (I heard that) Aman is sick.(information is "hearsay")

Compare 1 with 2.a and 2.b:

2.a. Aman syrkawla-dy.

              Aman  become sick-3sPAST

2.b. Aman syrkaw.

             Aman sick.
                Aman is sick. (speaker has spoken with Aman)

3. Maral Aşgabat-dan gel-ip-dir.

            Maral Ashgabat-ABL come-EV-COP
               (I heard that) Maral came from Ashgabat.

The Evidentiality of Unlicensed Baked Good Consumption or Verbal Affixes Denoting a Lack of Direct Knowledge

4. Ben iý-di sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i.

   Ben eat-3spast  you-GEN  cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC
     Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker saw Ben eat the cookies (direct evidence).

ii. Ben told the speaker that he ate the cookies.

5. Ben sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i iý-ip-dir.

   Ben you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC eat-EV-COP
      Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker heard from someone else that Ben ate the cookies (hearsay).

ii. Generally, the speaker learned through means other than 4.i and 4.ii that Ben ate the cookies.

6.a. Ben iý-ip-dir-mikä(n) sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i.

Ben eat-EV-COP-EV you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC Ben ate your cookies, or more loosely: I wonder if Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker saw evidence of the action, i.e. crumbs, and "made the connection." (informant's account)

ii. The speaker "doesn't concretely know [Ben] ate them." (informant's account)

iii. In the words of the informant: "I am questioning myself. But it's not a question."

iv. In other words: a deduction from indirect evidence, a suspicion

6.b. Men (...) iý-ip-dir-in-mikäm?

      I    (...)   eat-EV-1sPRES(?)-EV
          Did I eat something?

i. The speaker questions whether or not s/he has performed an action.

ii. Evidence of the particular action may be direct, however the nature of its complement (i.e. an item of food) may be in doubt.

7. Ben iý-en bol-maly sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i.

   Ben eat-PART be-OBLG you-GEN cookie-PL-2sPOSS-ACC
      Ben must be the one who ate your cookies.

i. The action is a logical inference from indirect evidence, similar to in the English gloss.

• Note the emphatic word order (SVO as opposed to canonical SOV) in 4.

• Note the postposed complement in 7. A tree of 7 would look something like {(Ben [{(the one who ate [ti])} must be]) [your cookies]i } using different brackets only in order to make the nesting more obvious.

• In 6.a., the verb appears in the form iý-ip-dir-minäm. I've analyzed the final two syllables as one evidential particle, glossed as EV. This follows partly from the intuitions of the informant, and partly from the consistence: it always appears as -minäm. Nonetheless, it could also be glossed as ...eat-EV-COP-INT-what..., something like, literally, Did Ben eat your cookies, or what?'

Negation

One way to express negation in Turkmen is with the negative verb ýok. This verb does not inflect for person or number.

Onuň maşyny ýok.

3sg car-GEN NEGV

'He does not have a car.'

Öýde Amandan başga adam ýok.

houseLOC AmanINST except person NEGV

'There is no one but Aman in the house.'

The phonetically similar suffix -ok is another option: it attaches to the verb which it negates. It comes after the stem and before the tense suffix. -Ok does not modify its form due to vowel harmony. In addition to -ok there is another suffix -me or -ma. It appears -mV is used when dealing with one event, -ok for more habitual or lasting states:

Men bilemok. 'I don't know.'

Men bilemokdym. 'I didn't know (for a long time).'

Men bilmedim. 'I didn't know (on one occasion).'

(these correspond to the positive forms 'Men bilyärin', 'Men bilyärdim', and 'Men bildim.'

Ol ajyganok.

3sg to hunger-GERUND-NEG

Literally *'He is not hungering'; in grammatical English, 'He is not hungry.' (compare to däl construction below)

Speakers of Eastern dialects of Turkmen, influenced by Uzbek, are less likely to utilize the -ok suffix.

Yet another way of expressing negation is by the negative particle däl.

Men şu kitaby okamaly däl.

1sg this book-ACC read-OBLIG NEG

I do not have to read this book. or, I should not read this book. (sentence was elicited for the latter meaning)

Ol aç däl.

3sg hungry NEG (note the lack of copula)

He is not hungry.

Kofe gyzgyn bolup biler.

The coffee might be hot.

Kofe gyzgyn däl bolup biler.

The coffee might not be hot.

Kofe gyzgyn dälmi?

Isn't the coffee hot?

There is not an equivalent in Turkmen to the English prefix 'un-'. That is, one can't simply attach an affix to a verb to indicate the opposite action, as in wrap the present --> unwrap the present.

It appears that different tenses use different forms of negation, as in the following sentences:

Men ylgamok.

I am not running. (present)

Men ylgamadym.

I did not run. (past)

Men ylgajak däl.

I will not run. (definite future)

Turkmen Case System

Turkmen has six cases: Accusative, Dative, Genitive, Instrumental, Locative, and Nominative.

Back Vowels: The noun sygyr "cow" declined in the six Turkmen cases, with Jenneta's examples of how it would be used for each:

Front Vowels: The proper noun Jeren (a woman's name) declined in the six Turkmen cases, with examples of how it would be used for each:

Suffixes

Suffixes, or "goşulmalar", form a very important part of Turkmen. They can mark possession, or change a verb.

• To make a verb passive: -yl/-il; -ul/-ül; -l
• To make a verb reflexive: -yn/-in; -un/-ün; -n
• To make a verb reciprocal: -yş/-iş; -uş/-üş; -ş
• To make a verb causative: -dyr/-dir; -dur/-dür; -yr/-ir; -ur/-ür; -uz/-üz; -ar/-er; -der/-dar; -t

Suffixes reflect vowel harmony.

Literature

The leading Turkmen poet is Magtymguly Pyragy, who wrote in the eighteenth century. His language represents a transitional stage between Chagatai and spoken Turkmen.

Vocabulary

numbers

0.nol 1.bir 2.iki 3.üç 4.dört 5.bäş 6.alty 7.ýedi 8.sekiz 9.dokuz 10.on. For 11-19, it is just like saying 'ten one, ten two, ten three' and so on. 20.ýigrimi 30.otuz 40.kyrk 50.elli 60.altmyş 70.ýetmiş 80.segsen 90.togsan 100.ýüz 1000.müň

colours

black - gara | blue - gök | brown - goňur, mele | grey - çal | green - ýaşyl | orange - narynç, mämişi | pink - gülgün | purple - benewşe, melewşe | red - gyzyl | white - ak | yellow -sary

basic expressions

yes - hawa | no - ýok | goodbye - sag boluň, hoş | good morning - ertiriňiz haýyrly bolsun | good evening - agşamyňyz haýyrly bolsun | good night - gijäňiz rahat bolsun | please - baş üstüne | thank you - sag boluň

language difficulties

Do you speak English? - Siz iňlisçe gepleýärsiňizmi? | I don't speak Turkmen - Men türkmençe geplemeýärin | What does it mean? - munuň manysy näme?

References

• Garrett, Jon, Meena Pallipamu, and Greg Lastowka (1996). “Turkmen Grammar”. www.chaihana.com.

External links

• Turkmen - English / English - Turkmen Dictionary
• Turkmen - English Dictionary
• Turkmen - English / English - Turkmen Dictionary (Freelang)
• Turkmen entry in the Ethnologue
• Omniglot page on Turkmen
• Turkmen language online transliteration
• Okamak.com Ever-growing dictionary of Turkmen language
• Turkmen->English and Turkmen->Turkish dictionary