1.2 Brief Dicussion of the Alphabets

The Turkmen alphabet was first written in Arabic, until about 1930, when a Latin script was introducted. The Latin script was replaced in 1940 when all Turkic people in the Soviet Union were required to adopt the Cyrillic script. Finally, in 1995, the "Täze Elipbiÿi" or New Alphabet, was formally introduced by the President to re-align Turkmenistan with the non-Soviet world. (Similar new alphabets have been introduced in Uzbekiztan and other republics.)

The New Alphabet is currently used for street signs and political slogans, but there is a severe deficit of other reading materials. Almost all Turkmen books in print use the Cyrillic alphabet, and despite the national-wide trainings that have taken place, and televised instructional programs, the New Alphabet has yet to gain popular acceptance.

1.3 Learning the New Alphabet

The new alphabet is much easier for native English speakers to read and understand than is the Cyrillic, and also seems better suited to the Turkmen language. For this reason we have used it in the grammar discussions of this text. Most all letters are pronounced more or less like their English counterparts. The unusual letters are as follows:

New Turkmen English Equivalent

Aa always the long a, as in "father"

Ää always the short a, as in "cat"

Çç ch, as in "cheese"

Gg when starting a word, voiced like the English "g" in "go". Within words, voiced like the throaty "g" in "bag"

Ii ee, as in see

Oo always the long o, as in go

Öö oo, as in good but rounder

Rr r, pronounced with a slight trill

Uu always the long u, as in flute

Üü like u, but pronounced with rounded lips and higher in the throat

Ww w, as in "water" (in Russian words, v, as in "very")

Yy i, as in sit

Ÿÿ y, as in yes

Ññ ng, as in song

£¡ zh, as in pleasure (only found in Russian words)

∫ sh, as in wash

1.4 Learning the Cyrillic Alphabet

The Cyrillic Alphabet is a little disorienting at first, since many of the letters seem like English counterparts, but they're actually not. The Cyrillic alphabet is also not ideally suited to Turkmen, and as a solution to this, several distinctly Turkic characters are present in the Turkmen Cyrillic alphabet that not present in Russian Cyrillic. Also, several Russian Cyrillic characters are only found in words taken from Russian.

Five characters look and sound approximately like their English counterparts. These are:

Cyrillic English

Aa long a, as in "father"

Kk k

Mm m

Oo long o, as in "go"

Tt t

The following eight characters might look like English letters, but unfortunately they're different.

Cyrillic English

Vv w, as in "water" (in Russian words, as v, as in "very")

Ss s, as in "see"

Ee at the beginning of a word, ye, as in yes (with the "y") In the middle or at the end of the word, usually as e, as in "egg"

Nn n, as in "no"

Rr r, pronounced with a trill, as in Spanish

Xx h, as in "hot", but throatier

Uu long u, as in "flute"

Á¥ like u, but pronounced with rounded lips and higher in the throat

The following 22 characters look unlike anything in seen in written English, though some bear striking resemblance to kindergarten experiments:

‰´ short a, as in "cat"

Bb b, as in "ball"

Hh ch, as in "cheese"

Dd d, as in "dog"

?/ e, as in "egg" (almost exclusively used at the beginning of words)

Ff f, as in "fire"

Gg when starting a word, voiced like the English "g" in "go". Within words, voiced like the throaty "g" in "bag"

Ii ee, as in "see"

Ú… j, as in "jump"

Ll l, as in "lye"

Øø oo, as in good, but rounder (approximately)

Pp p, as in "pi"

Yy i, as in "sit"

Jj y, as in "yes"

Zz z, as in "zoo"

פ ng, as in "song"

"' zh, as in "pleasure" (only found in Russian words)

Ww sh, as in "wash"

}] shch, as in "fresh cheese" (only found in Russian words)

|\ yo, as in "yo-yo"

Qq ya, as in "yacht"

Cc ts, as in "hats"