Morphology of Tatar language

Phonology

Vowel harmony

See Vowel harmony and Wikipedia

Backness harmony

There are two classes of vowels in Tatar — front and back. Backness harmony states that words may not contain both front and back vowels.

Rounding harmony

Rounding harmony isn't represented in writing and is therefore not discussed here.

Exceptions

Loanwords

• икътисад-ы-на, сәркатиб-е-нә
  • suffix harmonizes with the last syllable

• табигать-кә, җәмгыять-кә, секретар(ь)-енә, табигат(ь)-е
  • -ь denotes that -а- and -я- are pronunced as [ә] and [jә] respectively (at least similar to them)
  • -ь is deleted before suffixes starting with a vowel

Letters 'е' 'ю' 'я'

• ел+ы but егет+кә, гаеп+ле
  • having 'е' in stem is not enough to decide which variant of suffix (back-vowel or front-vowel) to choose

Rules needed for this to work

• "Soft sign deletion before suffix starting with a vowel"
  • ь:0 <=> _ %>: :Vowel ;

Number

{L}{A}р           Plural

Rules	surface forms of -/{L}{A}р/	Examples	Gloss
Ends with nasal consonants (м, н, ң)	-нар/-нәр	урам+нар, дошман+нар,таң+нар	streets,enemies,dawns
Ends with anything else	-лар/-ләр	бала+лар,кыз+лар,китап+лар,юләр+ләр	children,girls,books,fools

Rules needed for this to work

• "Plural alternation after nasal"
  • %{L%}:н <=> :NasalCns %>: _ %{A%}: р ;

Possessives

() = deleted after vowel, [] = deleted after consonant, {} = archivowel/consonant

({I})м,                  1sg
({I})ң,                  2sg
[с]{I},                  3sg 
({I})б{I}з,              1pl
({I})г{I}з,              2pl
[с]{I} or {L}{A}р{I}     3pl

Note: -лары/-ләре, -нары/-нәре can have several meanings:

• Әниләре өйдә юк. - Their mother is not at home.
• Аның малайлары да үзенә охшаган. - His sons are just like him. (In this case {L}{A}р{I} is a combination of the plural suffix {L}{A}р and the 3 person singular possessive suffix [с]{I})
• аларның сүзләре - their words

1st Person Possessives

Singular/Plural	Suffix	Example	Gloss
Singular	-ым becomes -м if ends with vowel	ат+ым,бала+м	my horse, my son
Plural	-ыбыз becomes -быз if ends with vowel	ат+ыбыз,бала+быз	our horse, our son

2nd Person Possessive

Singular/Plural	Suffix	Example	Gloss
Singular	-ың becomes -ң if ends with vowel	ат+ың,бала+ң	your horse, your son
Plural	-ыгыз becomes -гыз if ends with vowel	ат+ыгыз,бала+гыз	your horse,your son

3rd Person Possessive

Singular/Plural	Suffix	Example	Gloss
--	-ы becomes -сы when following vowel	ат+ы,бала+сы	his horse, his son

General Possessive

Singular/Plural	Suffix	Example	Gloss
--	-ныкы/-неке	бала+ныкы,дәүләтнеке	child's,state's, (as their own NPs)

Сases

Case Name	Suffixes
absolute	---
genitive	-ның/-нең
dative	-га/-гә, -ка/-кә
definite-accusative	-ны/-не
ablative	-дан/-дән, -тан/-тән, -нан/-нән
locative	-да/-дә, -та/-тә

See also

• Morphology of Kyrgyz language