The Closed /ė/ in the Dialects of Eastern Anatolia Region

Abstract

Dialects of Turkish spoken in a wide geography from Rumelia in the west to Iraq in the east, is extremely important in terms of preserving and keeping many archaic features of the Turkish language alive. In this context, dialects are like a door opening to the past of the Turkish language and it appears as a unique source that should be consulted in almost every study on the Turkish language. One of the archaic features preserved in Turkish dialects is the closed /e/, the existence of which has always been a matter of debate since the decipherment of Orkhon Turkish. The closed /e/ is not shown with a special sign except in some texts written to date. However some words such as yer and el are sometimes written with /i/ and sometimes with /e/ in Köktürk texts has led researchers to think that there is a new vowel and has given rise to a debate that continues until today. In this study, the situation of the closed /e/, which is given as a phonetic criterion in the first place in the work called Ağız Atlası Kılavuz Kitabı Türkiye Türkçesi Ağız Atlasına Hazırlık [Dialect Atlas Guidebook-Preparation for Türkiye Turkish Dialect Atlas] edited by Karahan, in the dialects of the Eastern Anatolian Region was examined. A new compilation was not made for the study; already published works and texts from master’s and doctoral theses were used. The words containing the closed /e/ in the texts were tagged along with their sentences and they were classified and examined. Additionally, the distribution of the closed /e/ sound in the Eastern Anatolian Region Dialects is shown with maps. In this way, it is expected that the study will contribute to the Türkiye Türkçesi Ağız Atlası [Dialect Atlas of Türkiye Turkish] studies to be prepared.