turkish phonology and morphology (türkçe ses ve b‹ç‹mb‹lg‹s‹)

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Summary
Turkish Phonology and Morphology (Türkçe Ses ve Biçim Bilgisi)
Vowels are sounds produced without an obstruction in
the vocal tract. As there is no constriction involved in
the production of vowels, vowels are described
differently than consonants. Turkish vowels are
described in terms of height, backness, and rounding.
Languages such as English need other parameters to
distinguish vowels such as ‘tense-lax’ distinction.
Turkish does not distinguish between tense and lax
vowels phonemically but lax counterparts are used
more widely than tense vowels in Turkish. As there are
8 vowel phonemes in Turkish and the distinction
between some vowels is in rounding, there is room for
movement in the vowel space. Thus, Turkish vowels
have allophones, different realizations of vowels, that
are not conditioned by the neighboring sounds or the
position within a word. Rather, most of the vowels tend
to centralize.
Turkish vowels are described as follows:
height backness rounding
/i/ high front unrounded
/y/ high front rounded
/µ/ high back unrounded
/u/ high back rounded
/E/ mid front unrounded
/ø/ mid front rounded
/o/ mid back rounded
/a/ low central unrounded
/√/ mid central unrounded