Vowel Harmony in Turkish

Vowel harmony is one of the fundamental pillars of the Turkish grammar.

It aims to create a flow and smooth transition when pronouncing words and phrases.

For the sake of ease in pronunciation, all the grammars in Turkish adhere to this principle. You will not come across words that would have sudden sound inflections but rather smooth ones.

let's take the word "ev" which means "house" in Turkish. To say “my house”, the suffix that makes it possessive is (-Im).

my house → evim as e and i belong to the same vowel group.

my phone → telefonum as o and u belong to the same vowel group.

It would be cumbersome to pronounce evım or telefonüm as "ı" and "ü" are from different vowel group.

It is more like a protocol to how suffixes are added to roots.

Written by

Abbas Abdelila

@abbasabdelila