A Phonological Problem Related to the Alphabet of the Old Oghuz Dialect: The Inscription of Consonants
Written languages began to form with the evolution of phonetic alphabets. Phonetic systems were adapted to varied languages but the sounds uttered in a language were insufficiently demonstrated in scripts. The problems pertaining to written-phonology have consequently been discussed since ancient times. Similar difficulties were also observed in the Turkish alphabet and historical texts. The Turkish phonetic system is symbolized to a certain extent in the Köktürk alphabet. The Uighurs constitue an ethnic group included in the ManichaeanBuddhist civilization circle. This indigenous culture adopted the Sogdian based writing system in the 8th century. However, the Aramaic-inspired alphabet could not adequately encompass Turkish sounds. Karakhanid dialect texts began to be inscribed using the Arabic alphabet in the second half of the 9th century. This script has been adapted to the Uighur spelling system. The spelling problems that appeared became an important issue between the 13th and 15th centuries, when Oghuz Turkish started to develop in Anatolia. This written language was first nourished by Turkish writing traditions beyond the Caspian. Binary spellings are encountered in the writing of consonants /ç/, /p/, /t/ and /ñ/ in the texts of this period. The spelling differences stem primarily from the alphabet. A problem obviously concering the inscription rather than phonetics may be discerned if the phonemes established in a language are displayed in the same text using discrete letters. Such difficulties occur when letters do not match sounds. Alphabets and spellings are unrelated to the phonetics of a language. Therefore, the features of the Oghuz language and dialects should ground the pronunciation of texts written in Old Oghuz dialect.
Eski Oğuz Lehçesinde Alfabe Kaynaklı Fonolojik Bir Sorun: Ünsüzlerin Yazımı
Yazı dilleri fonetik alfabenin gelişmesiyle kurulmaya başlamıştır. Çeşitli dillere uyarlanan fonetik alfabe, uygulandığı dillerin seslerini göstermekte yetersiz kalmış ve konuyla ilgili yazı-fonoloji sorunları o çağlardan günümüze dek tartışılmıştır. Türk dilinin tarihî alfabeleri ve bu alfabelerle yazılmış metinlerde de yazım sorunları görülmüştür. Bu alfabelerden ilki olan Köktürk alfabesinde Türkçenin fonetik sistemi belli oranda gösterilmiştir. 8. yüzyılda Maniheist-Budist uygarlık çevresine dâhil olan Uygurlar, Soğd esaslı yazıyı kabul etmişlerdir. Bu alfabe Türkçenin seslerini göstermede yetersiz kalmıştır. 9. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren Arap alfabesiyle yazılmaya başlayan Karahanlı lehçesi metinleri Uygur yazım sistemine adapte edilmiştir. Bu yazım sorunları, Anadolu’da Oğuzcanın kurulup gelişmeye başladığı 13-15. yüzyıllar arasında önemli bir mesele olarak karşımıza çıkar. Bu yazı dili ilk dönemlerde Hazar ötesindeki Türk yazı geleneklerinden beslenmiştir. Bu dönem metinlerinde /ç/, /p/, /t/ ve /ñ/ ünsüzlerinin yazımında ikili yazımlara rastlanmaktadır. Yazım farklılıklarının temel sebebi alfabe kaynaklıdır. Dilde sabit olan fonemlerin aynı metinlerde farklı harflerle gösterilmesi, burada fonetikten çok yazımı ilgilendiren bir sorundur. Bu sorun, harflerin sesleri karşılamamasıyla ilgilidir. Alfabe ve yazım dilin fonetiğiyle ilgili değildir. Bu yüzden Eski Oğuz lehçesiyle yazılmış bu metinlerin sesletiminde (telaffuz) Oğuz yazı dilleri ve ağızlarındaki Oğuzca şekiller esas alınmalıdır.
Written languages began to form with the evolution of phonetic alphabets. Phonetic systems were adapted to varied languages but the sounds uttered in a language were insufficiently demonstrated in scripts. The problems pertaining to written-phonology have consequently been discussed since ancient times. The spelling problems that appeared became an important issue between the 13th and 15th centuries, when Oghuz Turkish started to develop in Anatolia. This written language was first nourished by Turkish writing traditions beyond the Caspian. Binary spellings are encountered in the writing of consonants /ç/, /p/, /t/, and /ñ/ in the texts of this period. The spelling difficulties of Old Oghuz Turkish may be divided into two categories: a) the problems of inscribing vowels and consonants and noting vowel points in Turkish using the Arabic alphabet, and b) the complications of the initial inscription of Oghuz words in the Arabic alphabet. The first category of the complexities of adapting the Arabic alphabet to Turkish concerns the structure of the alphabet. Since the letter set of this alphabet was created for Arabic, it cannot be expected to fully reflect Turkish phonology. Three separate /z/ sounds (ze, zel, dat), three separate /h/ sounds (ha, hı, he), three separate /s/ sounds (sin, sad, interdental s), the sound of the ayın and their signs are noted as independent letters in this alphabet. Most of these sounds do not exist in Turkish and the letters zel, dat, hı, he, interdental se, sad, and ayın were used only in the inscription of words of Arabic-origin. The second category of inconvenience relates to the indecision regarding the spelling of Turkish-origin words. Multiple spelling was used in texts to display the sounds /d/, /s/, /ç/, /p/, and /ñ/. This circumstance is accepted as a characteristic features of Old Oghuz Turkish and is amply recognized in the history of language and writing. Such a situation primarily occurred when the Oghuz words were first inscribed.
The most notable of such variations concerns the inscription of the first sound /d-/. The initial characteristic voices the dental consonant /d-/ sound of the Oghuz dialects and is written using two separate letters in Turkish texts inscribed in the Arabic alphabet. Some words that known originally as encompassing the Oghuz /d-/ may be noted in the same text to use both tı and dal. The second instance of consonant-related spelling instability involves the /s/ sounds written using sin and sad. The same word is inscribed using both sin and sad. These words are written only with sin in Turkish texts inscribed using Khorezm; the letter sad is not used. In Oghuz Turkish, sad is used with the back vowels and sin is employed with the front vowels. Another spelling variation affects words including /ç/ indicated by ç/c sounds. The letter /ç/ does not appear in the Uighur and Arabic alphabet. It is shown through çim and cim in texts written in the Arabic alphabet. As the alphabet evolved, çim also came to be included in Arabic alphabet utilized to write Turkish texts. The sound at the beginning of the word were written using both çim and cim in Oghuz texts written in Anatolia. A sound not found in the Arabic alphabet is denoted by a letter devised by placing three dots under the letter be to spell /p/ in Persian and Turkish words. The Uyghur orthographic spelling instabilities in texts of this period may be observed in the writing of the /ñ/ sound. Written as a primary Turkish consonant since the Köktürk texts, this sound is inscribed in Uyghur Turkish using k + n. This tradition continued with the Arabic alphabet, using which this sound was tradition is felt intensely In Karakhanid and Khorezm Turkish texts, in which the /p/ sounds in Turkish words are indicated with be. In Old Oghuz Turkish texts, the sounds relating to /p/ are displayed both through be and pe because of the influence of the Khorezm tradition. Another inscribed through a combination of kef + nun. The Khorezm tradition persisted in the writing of this sound in the first period texts of Anatolia. Subsequently, this sound was noted by placing three dots on the kef. The spelling differences stem primarily from the alphabet. A problem obviously concering the inscription rather than phonetics may be discerned if the phonemes established in a language are displayed in the same text using discrete letters. Such difficulties occur when letters do not match sounds. Alphabets and spellings are unrelated to the phonetics of a language. Therefore, the features of the Oghuz language and dialects should ground the pronunciation of texts written in Old Oghuz dialect. For example, the pronunciation of a word written in the binary forms of ṭaġ and daġ should be standardized using the single form of [dağ] as in contemporary Oghuz Turkish.
