Ğ
G with | |
---|---|
Writing direction | Left-to-Right |
Ğ (g with breve; minuscule: ğ) is a Latin letter found in the Turkish and Azerbaijani alphabets as well as the Latin alphabets of Zazaki, Laz, Crimean Tatar, Tatar, and Kazakh. It traditionally represented the voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ or the voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/. However, in Turkish, the phoneme has in most cases been reduced to a silent letter, serving as a vowel-lengthener.
Turkish use
Current use
In Turkish, the ⟨ğ⟩ (sometimes represented with ⟨ɰ⟩ for convenience) is known as yumuşak ge (pronounced [jumuˈʃak ˈɟe]; 'soft g') and is the ninth letter of the Turkish alphabet. It always follows a vowel, and can be compared to the blødt g ('soft g') in Danish.[citation needed] In modern Turkish, the letter has no sound of its own and serves as a transition between two vowels, since they do not occur consecutively in native Turkish words. (In loanwords they may sometimes be separated by a glottal stop, e.g. cemaat or cemaât, which may be pronounced as either [dʒeˈma.atʲ] or [dʒeˈmaʔatʲ].)
The realization of the phoneme depends on its location in a word and the surrounding vowels:[1]
ağ | [aː] |
---|---|
eğ | [ej] |
iğ | [iː] |
ığ | [ɯː] |
oğ | [oː] |
uğ | [uː] |
öğ | [œː] |
üğ | [yː] |
ağa | [a.a] |
ığı | [ɯ.ɯ] |
uğu | [u.u] |
eğe | [e(j)e] |
iği | [i.i] |
üğü | [y(j)y] |
ağu | [a(w)u] |
oğa | [o(w)a] |
oğu | [o(w)u] |
uğa | [u(w)a] |
öğe | [œ.e] |
öğü | [œ.y] |
üğe | [y.e] |
ağı | [a.ɯ~aː~a]* |
ığa | [ɯ.a] |
eği | [eji~iː~e.i~æ]* |
iğe | [i.e~ije] |
- in word-final and syllable-final positions it lengthens the preceding vowel, for example: dağ(lar) [daː(laɾ)] ('mountain[s]'), sığ [sɯː] ('shallow'); when following a front vowel (e, i), it may sound /j/ instead: değnek [dejnek] ('cane');
- between identical back vowels (a, ı, u) it is silent: sığınak [sɯːnak] ('shelter'), uğur [uːɾ] ('good luck');
- between identical front vowels (e, i, ü) it is either silent: sevdiğim [sevdiːm] ('that I love'), or pronounced [j]: düğün [dyjyn] ('wedding');
- between different rounded vowels (o, u, ö, ü), or between rounded (o, u, ö, ü) and unrounded (a, e) vowels it is mostly silent, but may be a bilabial glide: soğuk [so(w)uk] ('cold'), soğan [so(w)an] ('onion');
- ağı may sound as two vowels or as long a: ağır [a.ɯɾ, aːɾ] ('heavy');
- ığa is always two vowels: sığan [sɯ.an] ('which fits');
- in eği and iğe it is either silent or pronounced [j] as if written y: değil [dejil] ('not'), diğer [dijeɾ] ('other'); in colloquial speech eği is long i: değil [diːl];
- eği and ağı in the future suffix -(y)AcAK- are formally [e.i]/[a.ɯ] or colloquially [æ]/[a]: seveceğim [seveˈdʒe.im, seviˈdʒæm] ('I will love'); yazacağım [jazaˈdʒa.ɯm, jazɯˈdʒam] ('I will write').
Some webpages may use ⟨
Historical use
The letter, and its counterpart in the
Azerbaijani and Crimean Tatar use
In Azerbaijani and Crimean Tatar, ⟨ğ⟩ represents /ɣ/, the voiced velar fricative.
Tatar use
The Tatar language is mainly written in Cyrillic, but a Latin-based alphabet is also in use. In the Latin alphabet, ğ represents /ʁ/, the voiced uvular fricative. In Cyrillic, Tartar uses г for both g and ğ without distinction.
Kazakh use
The current Kazakh Latin alphabet proposal, last updated in March 2021 and commissioned by
Friulian use
The Faggin–Nazzi alphabet for Friulian language uses the caron, owing to its Slavic influence. However, ⟨Ǧ⟩/⟨ǧ⟩ is often substituted with ⟨Ğ⟩/⟨ğ⟩ due to the former's lack of availability in fonts and input systems. This is because ⟨Ğ⟩/⟨ğ⟩ is in Latin Extended-A alongside ⟨Č⟩/⟨č⟩ and ⟨Š⟩/⟨š⟩, the other caron bearing letters in the alphabet, whereas ⟨Ǧ⟩/⟨ǧ⟩ is in Latin Extended-B, which is available in fewer fonts and input systems.
Character encoding
Preview | Ğ | ğ | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G WITH BREVE | LATIN SMALL LETTER G WITH BREVE | ||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 286 | U+011E | 287 | U+011F |
UTF-8 | 196 158 | C4 9E | 196 159 | C4 9F |
Numeric character reference | Ğ |
Ğ |
ğ |
ğ |
Named character reference | Ğ | ğ | ||
ISO 8859-3 |
171 | AB | 187 | BB |
ISO 8859-9 |
208 | D0 | 240 | F0 |
See also
References
- ISBN 9780415114943.