The Turkmen alphabet refers to variants of the Latin alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, or Arabic alphabet used for writing of the Turkmen language.
The modified variant of the Latin alphabet currently has an official status in Turkmenistan.
For centuries, literary Turkic tradition in Central Asia (Chagatai) revolved around the Arabic alphabet. At the start of the 20th century, when local literary conventions were to match colloquial variants of Turkic languages, and Turkmen-proper started to be written, it continued to use the Arabic script. In the 1920s, in Soviet Turkmenistan, issues and shortcomings of the Arabic alphabet for accurately representing Turkmen were identified and the orthography was refined (same as other Arabic-derived orthographies in Central Asia, such as Uzbek and Kazakh alphabets). But by 1928, due to state-policy, this orthography was discarded and the Latin script was adopted. In 1940, the Russian influence in Soviet Turkmenistan prompted a switch to a Cyrillic alphabet and a Turkmen Cyrillic alphabet (shown below in the table alongside the Latin) was created. When Turkmenistan became independent in 1991, President Saparmurat Niyazov immediately instigated a return to the Latin script. When it was reintroduced in 1993, it was supposed to use some unusual letters, such as the pound (£), dollar ($), yen (¥) and cent signs (¢), but these were replaced by more conventional letter symbols in 1999.
Turkmen is still often written with a modified variant of the Arabic alphabet in other countries where the language is spoken and where the Arabic script is dominant (such as Iran and Afghanistan).
Evolution
LatinCyrillic,1940–1993ArabicIPACurrent,since 19991993–19991992(project)Jaꞑalif 1929–1940Common Turkic alphabetTurkmen SSR(1923–1929)Twitter Account: @menalib. MENALIB – Web Portal of the Specialised Information Service Middle East, North Africa and Islamic Studies. (14:57 UTC, 20 jan. 2021) Of course it is often about latinisation in those years https://x.com/menalib/status/1351906653713686530Iran andAfghanistanA aA aА аآ / ـاآ / ـا, B bB bB ʙB bБ бبÇ çÇ çC cÇ çЧ чچD dD dД дدE eE einitial Э эnon-init. Е еاە / ە / ـەInitial: اِ or اEnd of syl.: هElse: ـِ / ـÄ äÄ äEa eaƏ əÄ äӘ әٴا / ٴـا أ / ـأF fF fФ фفG gG gG gГ гگFront: قBack: گƢ ƣĞ ğغH hH hH h Х хھ / حNative: ەLoanwords: ح X xخI iI iİ iИ иٴاېـ / ٴېـ / ٴېایـ / یـ / ی, J jJ jÇ çC cҖ җجŽ ž£ ɿJh jhƵ ƶJ jЖ жژK kK kK kК кكکQ qقL lL lL ʟL lЛ лلM mM mМ мمN nN nН нنŇ ňÑ ñNg ngꞐ ꞑÑ ñҢ ңڭنگO oO oО оاو / واوْ / وْ, Ö öÖ öQ qƟ ɵÖ öӨ өٴاو / ٴواؤ / ؤ, P pP pП пپR rR rР рرS sS sС сNative: سLoanwords: ث / صŞ ş$ ¢Sh shŞ şШ шشT tT tТ тتNative: تLoanwords: طU uU uУ уاۇ / ۇاۇ / ۇ , Ü üÜ üV vY yÜ üҮ үٴاۇ / ٴۇاۆ / ۆW wW wV vВ вۋوY yY yX xЬ ьI ıЫ ыاېـ / ېـ / ېاؽـ / ؽـ / ؽ, Ý ý¥ ÿY yJ jY yЙ йیـ / یZ zZ zЗ зزNative: زLoanwords: ذ / ض / ظ
In the historic Turkmen SSR Arabic orthography (1923–1929), a small uppercase Hamza was used for indicating front vowels when vowel sounds can't be perceived from other vowels or consonants in a word, very similar to the use of Hamza in Kazakh Arabic alphabet. In Turkmen, there are 9 vowels, 8 of which formed 4 pairs in the Turkmen SSR Arabic orthography. Below are these pairs, the back vowel and its corresponding front vowel:
/ (both written with alef, ) / (both written with vav, ) / (both written with vav+damma, ) / (both written with ya majhul, ) (Written with he in final position, )
If a word contains front vowels, a small uppercase Hamza was used; except if the word also contained either the vowel E e (Written with he in final position, ), or the consonants for [k] or [g] (Written with kaf and gaf, ; ). As per Turkmen vowel harmony rules, these three letters are only accompanied with front vowels, thus the small uppercase Hamza will be redundant and is not written.
Arabic script In Turkmenistan, Turkmen was primarily written in the Arabic script prior to latinisation in the Soviet Union. There were earlier attempts at standardisation of the Turkmen Arabic script, with rules and vowel conventions similar to those used by other Turkic languages of Russian Turkistan, such as Kazakh, Karakalpak, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek; however, all Arabic-based orthographies were eventually banned by Soviet authorities in 1929.Twitter Account: @menalib. MENALIB – Web Portal of the Specialised Information Service Middle East, North Africa and Islamic Studies. (14:57 UTC, 20 jan. 2021) Finally ventured to catalogue today: Tуrkmen medenijeti, a Turkmen journal from the period 1928-1931 in reformed Arabic and reformed Latin script https://x.com/menalib/status/1351906640795152387Lilina, Zlata. Translated by A. Hojamberdi-ogly Biziň okudyçymyz Lenin / بزڭ اوقودچيمز لەنين / Наш учитель Ленин (Moscow, 1925). DOI 10.25673/32556. https://opendata.uni-halle.de/handle/1981185920/32741. (Access at )
In Iran and Afghanistan, the Turkmen Arabic script remains in use. In Iran, specifically, the development of a modern standardized Perso-Arabic alphabet for Turkmen has been ongoing for the past four decades. It is based on the original Persian alphabet with slight modifications. It was first developed by Dr. Hamid Notqi and published in the Iranian-Azerbaijani Varlyq magazine. Since then, this system has been adopted by Iranian-Turkmens, and has been used for the publication of Turkmen-language publications such as Yaprak and Sahra, as well as by the Turkish State Media TRT.Turkmen TRT. Archived 2 February 2025. In 2010, the Iranian-Turkmen literaturist and linguist Mahmyt Atagazly compiled the alphabet in a booklet called "Guideline for Writing Turkmen Correctly" (; ). In this booklet, not only has Atagazly presented the alphabet, he has also reviewed the phonology of the Turkmen language and the rules of writing Turkmen to reflect this phonology accurately.
Vowels In the Turkmen Arabic alphabet, 9 vowels are defined.
RoundedUnrounded Close OpenCloseOpenBack Arabic اوُ / وُ اوْ / وْ ایٛ / یٛ آ / ـا LatinU uO oY yA aIPA[u][o][ɯ][ɑ]FrontArabic اۆ / ۆ اؤ / ؤ ای / ی اِ / ـِ / ه أ / ـأLatin Ü ü Ö ö I iE eÄ äIPA [y] [ø] [i][ɛ][æ]
Vowel Harmony Like other Turkic languages, Turkmen has a system of vowel harmony. Turkmen's system of vowel harmony is primarily a front/back system. This means that all vowels in a word must be ones that are pronounced either at the front or at the back of the mouth. In Turkmen there are two suffixes that make a plural: after front vowels, and after back vowels. The same variety of options for suffixes exist across the board in Turkmen. Here is how vowel harmony works, in an example of a word in which the vowels are all frontal: The word for dog is , and the pluralized form is (not ایتلار itlar). The word for four is , and the word for all four of us is . And below are examples for back vowels: The word for mountain is ; thus, the word for mountains is (not داغلر dagler).
Another sort of vowel harmony that exists in Turkmen is the system in which each syllable is required to have one, and only one vowel. This rule even applies to loanwords, who have their pronunciation altered in order to match this rule.
Vowel rounding In Turkmen there is a rule whereby words do not end in rounded vowels (unlike in Azerbaijani, Turkish, or Kyrgyz).
The round vowels o and ö can only exist in the first syllable. Even if they are heard in pronunciation in other syllables, they are written as a and e, respectively. Likewise, the round vowels u and ü can only exist in the first and second syllables.
Compound words, as well as loanwords, are exceptions to these rules.
Vowel orthography Of the two forms of the vowels above, some of them happen to have the letter ا (alif) in one of their forms, but not the other. These vowels, if at the beginning of the word, will universally be accompanied with the alif, but if they happen to follow a consonant, then the alif will be dropped. E.g., the vowel corresponding to the Latin letter u is written as اوُ in initial positions. The examples below for words including this vowel are as follows: The word for flour is (and not وُن). The word for wheat is (and not باوُغدای).
In Turkmen there are two types of syllables: open-ended syllables (ending in a vowel) and close-ended syllables. Open-ended syllables are ones that end in a vowel, i.e. they are in a V or cV form. Close-ended syllables are those that end in a consonant, i.e. they are in a Vc or cVc form. This generally does not matter, with the exception of the vowel that represents the same sound as the Latin letter e. If the syllable is close-ended, the diacritic form of the vowel ــِـ is used. But if the syllable is open-ended, the ە form is used (similar to how this letter is used as a vowel in Kurdish and Uyghur). Below are examples for the two: The word ('story') is broken down to two close-ended syllables, des-san. Thus, the diacritic form of the vowel e is used, and the word is written in the Turkmen Arabic alphabet as . Similar to Persian and Arabic orthographies, diacritics are standardly omitted from writing. The word is broken down to three syllables: er-te-ki, with two open-ended syllables. The e vowel in the second syllable is written as ە, and thus, the word is spelt (not ارتِکی).
There is one exception to this rule, and that is the suffix , which indicates that a noun is plural and in an objective or possessive case. Despite the suffix consisting of an open-ended syllable , it is written as (and not ـلەری).
The Latin letter a is generally written as آ / ـا. This is universally true for words of Turkmen origin. However, in Persian or Arabic loanwords, which have been incorporated in the Turkmen language for centuries and already have a proper and familiar spelling, retain their original spelling. In Persian or Arabic, the same sound can be represented either by the diacritic ــَـ, or by the letter ع, either with diacritic as عَـ or as عا.
Consonants While Turkmen Latin alphabet has 9 vowels and 21 consonants, the Turkmen Arabic alphabet has 32 consonants, as there are sounds that are represented by more than one consonant. The two letters, نگ are treated as one letter, as they are pronounced as a single sound. No.LetterLatin equivalentIPAExampleLatin spellingMeaning1 ب B b [b]باشbaş'head'2 پ P p [p]پالتا palta 'ax'3 ت T t [t̪]تاناtana'calf'4 ث S s [θ]ثمر semer'benefit'5 ج J j [dʒ]آجیٛajy'bitter'6 چ Ç ç [tʃ]چکیچçekiç'hammer'7 ح H h [h~x]حوْرازhoraz'rooster'8 خ H h [χ]خانhan'khan'9 د D d [d̪]داغdag'mountain'10 ذ Z z [ð]ذلیلzelil'humiliated'11 ر R r [ɾ~r]بارماقbarmak'finger'12 ز Z z [ð]آزaz'a little'13 ژ Ž ž [ʒ]آژدارaždar'dragon'14 س S s [θ]سنsen'thou, you ()'15 ش Ş ş [ʃ]آشاقaşak'down'16 ص S s [θ]صنمSenem'Senem'17 ض Z z [ð]ضررzerer'loss'18 ط T t [t̪]خطhat'line; letter'19 ظ Z z [ð]ظالمzalym'tyrant'20 ع [ʔ]عزیزeziz'dear'21 غ G g [ɣ~ʁ]باغbag'garden'22 ف F f [ɸ]نفسnefes'breath'23 ق G g[ɡ~ɢ]قاراgara'black'K k [k~q]قاقاkaka'father'24 ک K k [k]کرker'deaf'25 گ G g [ɡ~ɢ]گلgel'come!' (imperative)26 ل L l [l~ɫ]لالlal'mute'27 م M m [m]منmen'I, me'28 ن N n [n]نارnar'pomegranate'29 نگ Ň ň [ŋ~ɴ]منگmeň'[skin] mole'30 و W w [w]آوaw'hunt'31 ه / هـ H h [h]هانیhany'Where is [it]?'32 ی Ý ý [j]یازýaz'spring'
Notes Due to final-obstruent devoicing, native Turkmen words do end in the letters ب b, د d or ج j. Instead, the letters پ p, ت t and چ ç are used in their place. However, this rule does not extend to loanwords, such as کباب kebap. If as part of a suffix, a vowel is added to the end of a word ending in پ p, this final letter is then replaced with ب b instead. This rule does not apply to monosyllabic words. If the letter ب b is between two vowels, its pronunciation would be in between b and w . If a suffix is attached to a stem ending in چ ç, the consonant becomes voiced and the final letter is replaced with ج j. (E.g., → .) This rule, however, does not apply to monosyllable words like 'hair'.