A Phonological Analysis of Antiochian Turkish

Aside from the approximately 7,000 spoken languages in the world which are not mutually intelligible, there are countless dialects within each language with varying degrees of intelligibility. The degree of intelligibility between speakers of the “standard” and “non-standard” dialects of a language depends greatly on difference in the expression of phonemes (individual speech sounds) in different regions where the language is spoken. Antiochian Turkish is one such nonstandard dialect, having had more extensive contact with Arabic than other dialects of Turkish due to being a part of Syria before being annexed by Turkey in 1939. The purpose of this study is to determine the unique phonetic and phonological features of Antiochian Turkish when analyzed in isolation, apart from the standard (Istanbul) dialect of Turkish. Data collection was conducted over the course of five meetings with a language consultant (native speaker) in the form of a 218-word recorded word list, plus six short lists of minimal pairs. The researcher performed an initial transcription of the data using IPA standard orthography and cross checked it by recordings of the data-collection sessions. Subsequent phonological analysis was conducted according to Generative Phonology using SPE rules. Analysis revealed 21 consonant phonemes and 8 vowel phonemes, with 5 observed SPE rules. The most striking findings were the presence of the phonemic uvulars [ʀ] and [q] which are absent in standard Turkish, the movement of palatal stops from phonemes in standard Turkish to palatalized velar allophones in Antiochian Turkish, with corresponding loss of palatal nasal place articulation, and the loss of [ʒ]. VOT for stops was measured as consistent with standard Turkish within one standard deviation. Further research should focus on additional data collection from a range of ages and genders to clarify loss of [ʒ] and the distribution of the uvulars, as well as more robustly measure VOT.