SOAS Research Online

Abstract

A phonetic and phonological analysis of Istanbul Turkish is presented in this thesis in two parts, part I - Phonetics, covering chapters 1-3, and part II - Phonology, covering chapters 4-8. A phonetic description and classification of vowels in monosyllabic words is given in Chapter 1, and in Chapter 2 consonants are described and classified in articulatory phonetic terms. In Chapter 3 the distinction between assimilated and unassimilated loanwords is established, and various phonetic features of unassimilated loanwords are examined. Root structures of nouns, adjectives and verbs are analysed in Chapter 4, and prosodies are set up for the root as well-as subsystems for C and V systems. Phonological structures of unassimilated nouns and adjectives are also given. In Chapter 5 affixes are analysed in two main groups; native Turkish affixes and non-native affixes, and structures are given for them. In Chapter 6 junction prosodies are set up to show the prosodic links between roots and suffixes, and suffixes and suffixes. Onomatopoeia and reduplication are discussed in Chapter 7. Structures of onomatopoeic words are analysed, and various types of reduplication discussed. Chapter 8 is concerned with some aspects of discourse harmony. Prosodies are set up for inter-word and intra-word junctions, based on observations of phonic data in a quick style of speech. Some experimental findings obtained by the and of palatography, spectrography and maingography which provide instrumental evidence for the perceptual observations of the articulatory features of vowels and consonants are presented in Appendix I. A list of monosyllabic words in which vowels of different groups are illustrated is given in Appendix II. Appendix III provides a list of the most widely and frequently used onomatopoeic words. A bibliography is given at the end of the thesis.