Azeri vowel and consonant harmony
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Azeri, like most Turkic languages, has vowel harmony. This means that all vowels in a word are of a similar quality.
When adding suffixes, the vowels alternate depending on the quality of the vowels of the word they're being attached to (in compound words and foreign loans, suffixes are harmonized to the last vowel in the word).
In Azeri, there are two kinds of vowel harmony: 2-way and 4-way.
2-way is so called because the choice is between the back vowel a and the front vowel ə.
If the last vowel in a word is a/ı/o/u (back vowels), the suffix vowel is a.
If the last vowel is ə/e/i/ö/ü (front vowels), the suffix vowel is ə.
4-way harmony involves the back unrounded vowel ı, the back rounded vowel u, the front unrounded vowel i, and the front rounded vowel ü.
If the last vowel in a word is a/ı the suffix vowel is ı.
If the last vowel in a word is ə/e/i the suffix vowel is i.
If the last vowel in a word is o/u the suffix vowel is u.
If the last vowel in a word is ö/ü the suffix vowel is ü.
Unlike Turkish, there are no exceptions to these rules.
Vowel harmony also affects certain word-final and suffix consonants.
If a word ends in a back vowel+q, the q becomes ğ when adding a vowel-initial suffix: uşaq (child) + a (to) = uşağa
If a word ends in a front vowel+k, the k becomes a y: kömək (help) + ə (to) = köməyə.
This "consonant harmony" carries over to suffixes and verbs, where the velar consonant can be said to have a four-way contrast:
q (back vowel + initial consonant suffix)
ğ (back vowel + initial vowel suffix)
k (front vowel + initial consonant suffix)
y (front vowel + initial vowel suffix)
alacaq - he will take
alacağam - I will take
gələcək - he will come
gələcəyəm - I will come
sağ - healthy
sağlıq - health
sağlıqla - with health
sağlığa - to health
bir - one
birlik - oneness
birliklə - with oneness
birliyə - to oneness
