Language in Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan exhibits linguistic diversity as it boarders a number of different countries. Though most Turkmens speak the titular language, many Turkmens who grew up under the USSR also speak Russian. It is not uncommon for the more educated to be bilingual. Roughly 50% of Turkmen people report being bilingual (Thompson 2016). Turkish is also common due to Turkey's cultural influence in Turkmenistan and the kinship of the languages; both fall within the Turkic linguistic family. Non-Turkmen linguistic features can influence Turkmen English alongside Turkmen itself.
Turkmen
Phonology
Turkmen is a Turkic language. Like most Turkic languages, it is highly phonetic and exhibits vowel harmony. Vowel harmony is a phonological process which restricts which vowels may be used alongside other vowels within a word. This means that vowels within any given word must bear similarity to one another. Specifically in Turkmen, vowels must harmonize in terms of front versus back and rounded versus unrounded.
Turkmen has nine vowels, which can be either short or long. Vowel length is phonemic. The vowel phonemes of Turkmen are [I], [y], [I] [ɨ],[u], [e], [ø] [o], [æ] and [a].
Turkmen has twenty-three consonant phonemes. These phonemes are shown below.
Turkmen is a Turkic language. Like most Turkic languages, it is highly phonetic and exhibits vowel harmony. Vowel harmony is a phonological process which restricts which vowels may be used alongside other vowels within a word. This means that vowels within any given word must bear similarity to one another. Specifically in Turkmen, vowels must harmonize in terms of front versus back and rounded versus unrounded.
Turkmen has nine vowels, which can be either short or long. Vowel length is phonemic. The vowel phonemes of Turkmen are [I], [y], [I] [ɨ],[u], [e], [ø] [o], [æ] and [a].
Turkmen has twenty-three consonant phonemes. These phonemes are shown below.
image taken from aboutworldlanguages.com/Turkmen
Script
Turkmen has adopted various alphabets at various points in history. Turkmenistan first use an Arabic script, and then a Latin script briefly until falling under the power of the USSR. Once incorporated into the USSR, Turkmenistan used the Cyrillic alphabet. Symbolically, Turkmenistan replaced its Cyrillic alphabet with a new Latin alphabet shorty after obtaining independence from the USSR.
Turkmen has adopted various alphabets at various points in history. Turkmenistan first use an Arabic script, and then a Latin script briefly until falling under the power of the USSR. Once incorporated into the USSR, Turkmenistan used the Cyrillic alphabet. Symbolically, Turkmenistan replaced its Cyrillic alphabet with a new Latin alphabet shorty after obtaining independence from the USSR.
Turkmen Arabic Script - image taken from https://www.omniglot.com/writing/turkmen.htm
Turkmen Cyrillic Script - image taken from https://www.omniglot.com/writing/turkmen.htm
Turkmen Latin Script - image taken from https://www.omniglot.com/writing/turkmen.htm
Morphology
Turkmen, like many of its linguistic relatives, is an agglutinative language. This means that grammatical relationships are indicated by various suffixes affixed to stem words.
Nouns do not have gender. However, Turkmen does indicate number and have six cases: Nominative, Genative, Dative, Accusative, Ablative and Locative.
Turkmen does not have articles.
Syntax
Turkmen does not have strict word order due to its agglutinative form. This said, typical sentence structure is Subject-Object-Verb, or SOV.
Lexicon
The Turkmen lexicon is mostly comprised of Turkic words. However, Due to various influences from Russia and the Middle East, Turkmen has incorporated some Russian, Arabic and Persian loanwords. "Salam" meaning "peace", is used as a general greeting and is Arabic in origin, while "kerwen", meaning "caravan" is lifted from Persian as well as the name of the capital city, "Ashgabat" meaning "city of love", and "Schichi" meaning "beet soup" from Russian (Thompson 2016).
Turkmen, like many of its linguistic relatives, is an agglutinative language. This means that grammatical relationships are indicated by various suffixes affixed to stem words.
Nouns do not have gender. However, Turkmen does indicate number and have six cases: Nominative, Genative, Dative, Accusative, Ablative and Locative.
Turkmen does not have articles.
Syntax
Turkmen does not have strict word order due to its agglutinative form. This said, typical sentence structure is Subject-Object-Verb, or SOV.
Lexicon
The Turkmen lexicon is mostly comprised of Turkic words. However, Due to various influences from Russia and the Middle East, Turkmen has incorporated some Russian, Arabic and Persian loanwords. "Salam" meaning "peace", is used as a general greeting and is Arabic in origin, while "kerwen", meaning "caravan" is lifted from Persian as well as the name of the capital city, "Ashgabat" meaning "city of love", and "Schichi" meaning "beet soup" from Russian (Thompson 2016).
Example
The following is an example of spoken Turkmen. The YouTuber in the video explains to her Turkmen audience how she came to learn English.
Turkmen English
Phonology
Due to government suspicion, very few native English speakers are allowed access to the country. Because of this, Turkmen English learners primarily read English rather than speak it. When they do happen to speak, they often read the word as it is written, assuming that English is more phonemic than it is.
A common example can be found in words with the dental suffix "ed". Turkmen English speakers often pronounce both the "e" and the "d". Thus, for example:
"called" becomes [kaləd]
"established" becomes [istæblIʃəd]
"Used" becomes [yuzəd]
Other examples of Turkmen pronounciation of English words as spelled rather than commonly spoken include words with "ion". Often, "ion" is spoken as [yən] as in "onion". However, Turkmen English speakers will pronounce it as [ion], so instead of [ənyən], they will pronounce it [ənion].
Interdental fricatives can also prove somewhat difficult. Rather than using [θ] or [ð], Turkmen English speakers may substitute [d], [t], [z] or even [s]. One sees this in how "that" sometimes becomes [dæt], "themselves" becomes [zɛmsɛlvz] and "fourteenth" becomes [fortins].
Because initial and final consonant blends do not appear in Turkmen, initial and final consonant blends also pose difficulty for Turkmen English speakers. The Turkmen English speaker may pronounce only one of the two phonemes instead of both. Thus, a Turkmen English speaker would be likely to pronounce "passport" as [pæspʊt] or "that's" as [ðæs].
Semantics
Again, because Turkmen English speakers have limited access to spoke English, they will often broaden the meaning of a word. In one case, a woman providing a lesson to English speakers on the Turkmen alphabet not only called the collection of letters used in Turkmen their "alphabet", but also called each individual letter an "alphabet". In another case, a man entitled the video of his vacation with his American wife "An English and A Turkmen in Bali". Both Turkmen English speakers broadened the meaning of the English words at their disposal. The former by changing "alphabet" from simply meaning the collection of phonemes in a language to also being synonymous with "letter". The latter allowed "English" to become an umbrella term for anyone who speaks English in the same way that "Turkmen" refers both to the language and Turkmen speakers.
Lexicon
Many of the English words, which have entered the Turkmen lexicon are those which deal with communication or media. Turkmen now includes the words, "radio", "internet", "telewizor" for television and "telefon" for telephone. Most English lexical additions to Turkmen arrive through the internet and social media. Because the majority of English exposure outside of an English class is through the internet and media, it makes sense that Turkmen would adopt English words from that sphere. This said, Turkmen's lexical borrowings from English are still very limited as media and internet content is heavily censored and most Turkmens do not have easy access to non-Turkmen websites, news sources or social media posts.
Due to government suspicion, very few native English speakers are allowed access to the country. Because of this, Turkmen English learners primarily read English rather than speak it. When they do happen to speak, they often read the word as it is written, assuming that English is more phonemic than it is.
A common example can be found in words with the dental suffix "ed". Turkmen English speakers often pronounce both the "e" and the "d". Thus, for example:
"called" becomes [kaləd]
"established" becomes [istæblIʃəd]
"Used" becomes [yuzəd]
Other examples of Turkmen pronounciation of English words as spelled rather than commonly spoken include words with "ion". Often, "ion" is spoken as [yən] as in "onion". However, Turkmen English speakers will pronounce it as [ion], so instead of [ənyən], they will pronounce it [ənion].
Interdental fricatives can also prove somewhat difficult. Rather than using [θ] or [ð], Turkmen English speakers may substitute [d], [t], [z] or even [s]. One sees this in how "that" sometimes becomes [dæt], "themselves" becomes [zɛmsɛlvz] and "fourteenth" becomes [fortins].
Because initial and final consonant blends do not appear in Turkmen, initial and final consonant blends also pose difficulty for Turkmen English speakers. The Turkmen English speaker may pronounce only one of the two phonemes instead of both. Thus, a Turkmen English speaker would be likely to pronounce "passport" as [pæspʊt] or "that's" as [ðæs].
Semantics
Again, because Turkmen English speakers have limited access to spoke English, they will often broaden the meaning of a word. In one case, a woman providing a lesson to English speakers on the Turkmen alphabet not only called the collection of letters used in Turkmen their "alphabet", but also called each individual letter an "alphabet". In another case, a man entitled the video of his vacation with his American wife "An English and A Turkmen in Bali". Both Turkmen English speakers broadened the meaning of the English words at their disposal. The former by changing "alphabet" from simply meaning the collection of phonemes in a language to also being synonymous with "letter". The latter allowed "English" to become an umbrella term for anyone who speaks English in the same way that "Turkmen" refers both to the language and Turkmen speakers.
Lexicon
Many of the English words, which have entered the Turkmen lexicon are those which deal with communication or media. Turkmen now includes the words, "radio", "internet", "telewizor" for television and "telefon" for telephone. Most English lexical additions to Turkmen arrive through the internet and social media. Because the majority of English exposure outside of an English class is through the internet and media, it makes sense that Turkmen would adopt English words from that sphere. This said, Turkmen's lexical borrowings from English are still very limited as media and internet content is heavily censored and most Turkmens do not have easy access to non-Turkmen websites, news sources or social media posts.
Example
The following provides an example of a native Turkmen speaker, incidentally the same speaker as in the above video, speaking English. Here the YouTuber is primarily addressing English speakers and attempting to teach them Turkmen. This particular YouTube channel includes a number of other videos which teach common Turkmen words and basic Turkmen grammar and even Turkmen history.