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[1]
Twol rules needed for this
- "Soft sign deletion before suffix starting with a 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
|
Twol rules needed for this
"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[2]
|
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
|
Notes
- ↑ It seems that in one-syllable words beginning with 'е' it always stands for [йы]. In two-or-more-syllable words decisive are the next to the end vowel. E.g. ел-ы ("his/its year") and егыл-ган ("falled down"), егет-кә ("to the guy"). That means that 'е' should be treated as a front vowel (which is the case) with an exception when it is in initial position in a one syllable word. The same is true for 'ю' and 'я' with vice versa statement about the default backness
- ↑ Or -сы becomes -ы when following consonant, in other words
See also
