Turkmen grammar

Turkmen grammar (Turkmen: Türkmen diliniň grammatikasy) is the grammar of the Turkmen language, whose dialectal variants are spoken in Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia (in Stavropol krai), China (Salar Turkmens), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and others. Turkmen grammar, as described in this article, is the grammar of standard Turkmen as spoken and written by Turkmen people in Turkmenistan.

Turkmen is a highly agglutinative language; that is, much of the grammar is expressed by means of suffixes added to nouns and verbs. It is very regular compared with many other languages of non-Turkic group. For example, obalardan "from the villages" can be analysed as oba "village", -lar (plural suffix) and -dan (ablative case, meaning "from"); alýaryn "I am taking" as al "take", -ýar (present continuous tense) and -yn (first person singular).

Another characteristic of Turkmen is vowel harmony. Most suffixes have two or four different forms, the choice between which depends on the vowel of the word's root or the preceding suffix. For example, the ablative case of obalar is obalardan "from the villages" but the ablative case of itler "dogs" is itlerden "from the dogs".

Verbs have six grammatical persons (three singular and three plural), various voices (active, passive, reflexive, reciprocal and causative), and a large number of grammatical tenses. Meanings such as "not", "be able", "must" and "if", which are expressed as separate words in most other languages, are usually expressed with verbal suffixes in Turkmen. A characteristic of Turkmen which is shared by neighbouring languages such as Persian is that the perfect tense suffix (in Turkmen -miş, -myş) often has an inferential meaning, e.g. gelýärmiş "it would seem (they say) that he/she is coming".

Verbs also have a number of participial forms, which Turkmen makes plentiful use of. Clauses which begin with "who" or "because" in English are generally expressed by means of participial phrases in Turkmen.

In Turkmen, verbs generally come at the end of the sentence or clause; adjectives and possessive nouns come before the noun they describe; and meanings such as "behind", "for", "like/similar to" etc. are expressed as postpositions following the noun rather than prepositions before it.

Phonology

The following phonemes are present in the Turkmen language:[1]

Consonants

Turkmen consonant phonemes (shown with the letters of the Turkmen alphabet used to represent them):

		Bilabial		Dental/ Alveolar		Postalv. /Palatal		Dorsal /Glottal
Nasal		m/м	/m/	n/н	/n/			ň/ң	/ŋ/
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p/п	/p/	t/т	/t/	ç/ч	/t͡ʃ/	k/к	/k/
	voiced	b/б	/b/	d/д	/d/	j/җ	/d͡ʒ/	g/г	/ɡ/
Fricative	voiceless			s/с	/θ/	ş/ш	/ʃ/	h/х	/h/
	voiced			z/з	/ð/
Approximant		w/в	/w/	l/л	/l/	ý/й	/j/
Rhotic				r/р	/ɾ/

Note that s/с and z/з represent /θ/ and /ð/, which are not [s] and [z], a unique feature among the Turkic languages (cf. ceceo in some Spanish dialects).

Vowels

Turkmen contains both short and long vowels. Doubling the duration of sound for a short vowel is generally how its long vowel counterpart is pronounced. Turkmen employs vowel harmony, a process that is common in fellow Turkic languages. Vowels and their sounds are as follows:

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i/и /ɪ/ i/и /ɪː/	ü/ү /ʏ/ üý/үй /ʏː/	y/ы /ɯ/ y/ы /ɯː/	u/у /ʊ/ u/у /ʊː/
Mid	e/е /ɛ/	ö/ө /œ/ ö/ө /œː/		o/о /o/ o/о /oː/
Open	ä/ә /æː/		a/а /ɑ/ a/а /ɑː/

Vowel harmony

Like other Turkic languages, Turkmen is characterised by vowel harmony. In general, words of native origin consist either entirely of front vowels (inçe çekimli sesler) or entirely of back vowels (ýogyn çekimli sesler). Prefixes and suffixes reflect this harmony, taking different forms depending on the word to which they are attached.

The infinitive form of a verb determines whether it will follow a front vowel harmony or back vowel harmony. Words of foreign origin, mainly Russian, Persian or Arabic, do not follow vowel harmony.

In addition to this backness harmony, progressive rounding harmony is also found in Turkmen, though this is not reflected in the orthography.[2]

Nouns

Turkmen has six cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental/ablative and locative. Plurals are formed from -lar/ler.

Suffixes

Case suffixes

Case	Turkmen name	Ending
Nominative	Baş düşüm	-∅
Genitive	Eýelik düşüm	-(n)yň/iň/uň/üň
Dative	Ýöneliş düşüm	-(n)a/ä/e
Accusative	Ýeňiş düşüm	-(n)y/i
Locative	Wagt-orun düşüm	-da/de
Ablative	Çykys düşüm	-dan/den

Possessive suffixes

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	-(i/u/ü/y)m	-(i/u/ü/y)myz
2nd	-(i/u/ü/y)ň	-(i/u/ü/y)ňyz
3rd	-(s)i/y

Nouns ending in -ç, -k, -p, -t are voiced to -j, -g, -b, and -d. When the noun ends in -e, the accusative, genitive, and dative ending became -äni, -äniň, and -ä. Also notice that dative of vowel-ending nouns has its last letter can being removed and just simply -a or -ä.[3]

Examples

Back vowels: The noun sygyr "cow" declined in the six Turkmen cases, with Jenneta's examples of how it would be used for each:

Case	Noun + ending	Example
Nominative	sygyr	Sygyr yzyna geldi.
Genitive	sygyryň	Men sygyryň guýrugyny çekdim.
Dative	sygyra	Men sygyra iým berdim.
Accusative	sygyry	Men sygyry sagdym.
Locative	sygyrda	Sygyrda näme günä bar?
Ablative	sygyrdan	Bu kesel sygyrdan geçdi. Men sygyrdan ýadadym.

Front Vowels: The proper noun Jeren (a woman's name) declined in the six Turkmen cases, with examples of how it would be used for each:

Case	Noun + ending	Example
Nominative	Jeren	Jeren yzyna geldi.
Genitive	Jereniň	Men Jereniň saçyny çekdim.
Dative	Jerene	Men Jerene nahar berdim.
Accusative	Jereni	Men Jereni gördüm.
Locative	Jerende	Jerende näme günä bar?
Ablative	Jerenden	Bu kesel Jerenden geçdi. Men Jerenden ýadadym.

Pronouns

Unlike nouns, pronouns are inflected irregularly.

Pronouns	1 sg	2 sg	3 sg	1 pl	2 pl	3 pl
Nominative	men	sen	ol	biz	siz	olar
Genitive	meniň	seniň	onuň	biziň	siziň	olaryň
Dative	maňa	saňa	oňa	bize	size	olara
Accusative	meni	seni	ony	bizi	sizi	olary
Locative	mende	sende	onda	bizde	sizde	olarda
Ablative	menden	senden	ondan	bizden	sizden	olardan

In addition to pronouns above, genitive pronouns can also has absolute possessive suffix -ky/ki. This suffix can also added on nouns.

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for numbers (singular and plural) and persons (first, second and third). There are 11 verb tenses: present comprehensive (long and short form), present perfect (regular and negative), future certain, future indefinite, conditional, past definite, obligatory, imperative and intentional.

Infinitives are formed by -mak/mek.

Tense suffixes[3]

Future certain, intentional, and obligational are does not inflect for person. Fusion also shown in spoken Turkmen, for example spoken -ýän for standard -ýärin.[3]

Tense	Suffix
Present perfect	-yr/ir
Present continuous	-ýar/ýär
Pres. cont. negative (see also: § Negation)	-maýar/mäýär, -ok
Past definite	-dy/di
Past distant	-ypdy/ipdi
Past dist. negative	-mandy/mändi
Future certain	-jak/jek
Future indefinite	-ar/er
Intentional	-makçi/mekçi
Obligational	-maly/meli
Conditional	-sa/se

Present relative	-ýan/ýän
Past relative	-(a)n/(ä)n
Gerund	-(y)iş/uş/üş/yş

Imperatives

Person	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
Ending	-∅	-syn/sin	-(a)lyň/(e)liň	-(y)ň/(i)ň	-synlar/sinler

In additional to main imperatives, these imperative forms are somewhat more complex:

• 1st plural imperative (two people): -(a)ly/(e)li
• Informal polite: -sana/sene
• Formal polite:
  • Request: -(y)p/(i)p + bersene
  • Command: -saňyzlaň/-seňizläň

Person suffixes[3]

Person	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
-ýar/-ýär	-ýaryn/-ýärin	-ýarsyň/-ýärsiň	-ýar/-ýär	-ýarys/-ýäris	-ýarsyňyz/-ýärsiňiz	-ýarlar/-ýärler, -ýar/-ýär
-dy/-di	-dym/-dym	-dyň/-diň	-dy/-di	-dyk/-dik	-dyňyz/-diňiz	-dylar/-diler

Additional suffixes

• Passive: -yl/-il; -ul/-ül; -l
• Reflexive: -yn/-in; -un/-ün; -n
• Reciprocal: -yş/-iş; -uş/-üş; -ş
• Causative: -dyr/-dir; -dur/-dür; -yr/-ir; -ur/-ür; -uz/-üz; -ar/-er; -der/-dar; -t

Evidentiality

Evidentiality of a reported event is determined by four markers, affixed to the finite verb, roughly:

• -dY (direct evidence)
• -(Y)p-dYr (hearsay)
• -dYr-mY-näm (indirect evidence)
• -mYş (rumoured that)

Here Y represents the close vowel conforming to vowel harmony.

Some independent particles may be said to convey evidentiality: one such word is the particle eken.

1. Aman syrkawla-p-dyr.

Aman become sick-EV-COP
           (I heard that) Aman is sick.(information is "hearsay")

Compare 1 with 2.a and 2.b:

2.a. Aman syrkawla-dy.

Aman  become sick-3sPAST

2.b. Aman syrkaw.

Aman sick.
                Aman is sick. (speaker has spoken with Aman)

3. Maral Aşgabat-dan gel-ip-dir.

 Maral Ashgabat-ABL come-EV-COP
                (I heard that) Maral came from Ashgabat.
 

4. Ben sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i iý-di.

 Ben you-GEN  cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC eat-3spast
      Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker saw Ben eat the cookies (direct evidence).

ii. Ben told the speaker that he ate the cookies.

5. Ben sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i iý-ip-dir.

 Ben you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC eat-EV-COP
       Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker heard from someone else that Ben ate the cookies (hearsay).

ii. Generally, the speaker learned through means other than 4.i and 4.ii that Ben ate the cookies.

6.a. Ben iý-ip-dir-mikä(n) sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i.

 Ben eat-EV-COP-EV you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC
         Ben ate your cookies, or more loosely: I wonder if Ben ate your cookies.

i. The speaker saw evidence of the action, i.e. crumbs, and "made the connection." (informant's account)

ii. The speaker "doesn't concretely know [Ben] ate them." (informant's account)

iii. In the words of the informant: "I am questioning myself. But it's not a question."

iv. In other words: a deduction from indirect evidence, a suspicion

6.b. Men (...) iý-ip-dir-in-mikäm?

  I    (...)   eat-EV-1sPRES(?)-EV
           Did I eat something?

i. The speaker questions whether or not s/he has performed an action.

ii. Evidence of the particular action may be direct, however the nature of its complement (i.e. an item of food) may be in doubt.

7. Ben iý-en-miş sen-iň köke-ler-iň-i.

 Ben eat-PART be-RUM  you-GEN     cookie-PL-2sPOSS-ACC
       It is rumoured that Ben ate your cookies.

i. The action has been passed on via several speakers, or gossiped, similar to in the English gloss.

• Note the postposed complement in 7. A tree of 7 would look something like {(Ben [{(the one who ate [ti])} must be]) [your cookies]i } using different brackets only in order to make the nesting more obvious.
• In 6.a., the verb appears in the form iý-ip-dir-minäm. I've analyzed the final two syllables as one evidential particle, glossed as EV. This follows partly from the intuitions of the informant, and partly from the consistence: it always appears as -minäm. Nonetheless, it could also be glossed as ...eat-EV-COP-INT-what..., something like, literally, Did Ben eat your cookies, or what?'

Negation

One way to express negation in Turkmen is with the predicative adjective ýok, which indicates absence.

Onuň maşyny ýok.

3sg car-GEN NEGV

'He does not have a car.'

Öýde Amandan başga adam ýok.

houseLOC AmanINST except person NEGV

'There is no one but Aman in the house.'

The phonetically similar suffix -ok is another option: it attaches to the verb which it negates. It comes after the stem and before the tense suffix. -Ok does not modify its form due to vowel harmony. In addition to -ok there is another suffix -me or -ma. It appears that -mV is used when dealing with one event and -ok for more habitual or lasting states:

Men bilemok. 'I don't know.'

Men bilemokdym. 'I didn't know (for a long time).'

Men bilmedim. 'I didn't know (on one occasion).'

(These correspond to the positive forms Men bilyärin, Men bilyärdim and Men bildim.)

Ol ajyganok.

3sg to hunger-GERUND-NEG

Literally *'He is not hungering'; in grammatical English, 'He is not hungry.' (cf. däl construction below)

Speakers of Eastern dialects of Turkmen, influenced by Uzbek, are less likely to utilise the -ok suffix.

Yet another way of expressing negation is by the negative particle däl.

Men şu kitaby okamaly däl.

1sg this book-ACC read-OBLIG NEG

I do not have to read this book. or, I should not read this book. (sentence elicited for the latter meaning)

Ol aç däl.

3sg hungry NEG (note the lack of copula)

He is not hungry.

Kofe gyzgyn bolup biler.

The coffee might be hot.

Kofe gyzgyn däl bolup biler.

The coffee might not be hot.

Kofe gyzgyn dälmi?

Isn't the coffee hot?

There is not an equivalent in Turkmen to the English prefix 'un-'. That is, one can't simply attach an affix to a verb to indicate the opposite action, as in wrap the present → unwrap the present.

It appears that different tenses use different forms of negation, as in the following sentences:

Men ylgamok.

I am not running. (present)

Men ylgamadym.

I did not run. (past)

Men ylgajak däl.

I will not run. (definite future)

References

1. Hoey, Elliott (2013). Grammatical sketch of Turkmen (MA thesis). University of California, Santa Barbara.
2. Clark, Larry (1998). Turkmen Reference Grammar. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
3. Turkmen Language Grammar Guide (PDF), Peace Corps