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The Turkish alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Turkish language, consisting of 29 letters, a certain number of which (Ç, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ş, and Ü) have been adapted or modified for the phonetic requirements of the language.
These letters are, in the upper case:
A, B, C, Ç, D, E, F, G, Ğ, H, I, İ, J, K, L, M, N, O, Ö, P, R, S, Ş, T, U, Ü, V, Y, Z
and in the lower case:
a, b, c, ç, d, e, f, g, ğ, h, ı, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, ö, p, r, s, ş, t, u, ü, v, y, z.
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A
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a
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As a in f a ther
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M
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m
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As m in m an
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B
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b
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As b in b at
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N
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n
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As n in n ay
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C
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c
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As j in j ob
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O
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o
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As o in n o
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Ç
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ç
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As ch in ch at
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Ö
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ö
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As e in h e r
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D
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d
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As d in d og
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P
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p
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As p in p ut
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E
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e
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As e in r e d
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R
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r
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As r in r at
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F
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f
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As f in f ar
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S
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s
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As s in s and
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G
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g
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As g in g ap
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Ş
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ş
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As sh in sh e
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Ğ
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ğ
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Unpronounced; Lengthens preceding vowel
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T
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t
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As t in t op
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H
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h
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As h in h ot
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U
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u
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As oo in p oo l
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I
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ı
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uh, as e in op e n
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Ü
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ü
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As u in n u de
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İ
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i
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As ee in b ee t
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V
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v
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As v in v al v e
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J
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j
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As g in monta g e
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Y
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y
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As y in y ou
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K
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k
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As c in c at
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Z
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z
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As z in z ip
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L
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l
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As l in l et
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Early history
The earliest known Turkish alphabet is the Orkhon script. In general, Turkic languages have been written in a number of different alphabets including Cyrillic, Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Latin and some other Asiatic writing systems.
Modern Turkish alphabet
The current 29-letter Turkish alphabet, used for the Turkish language, was established by the Law on the Adoption and Implementation of the Turkish Alphabet, numbered 1353,[1] in Turkey on November 1, 1928, as a vital step in the cultural part of Atatürk's Reforms.[2] Replacing the earlier Ottoman Turkish script, the script was created as an extended version of the Latin alphabet at the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
The alphabet reform, combined later with the foundation of Turkish Language Association in 1932, campaigns by the Ministry of Education including the opening of Public Education Centers throughout the country, and the active encouragement of people by Atatürk with many trips to the countryside often involving him teaching the new alphabet, succeeded in achieving a substantial increase in the literacy rate of the population from a figure around 20% to over 90%. The reforms were also backed up by the Law on Copyrights, issued in 1934, encouraging and strengthening the private publishing sector. In 1939, The First Turkish Publications Congress was organized in Ankara, for discussing the issues like copyright, printing, the progress on improving the literacy rate and scientific publications, with the attendance of 186 deputies.
The work of preparing the new alphabet based on the Latin letters and incorporating necessary modifications to account for sounds specific to Turkish language, was undertaken by the Language Commission (Dil Encümeni) consisting of the following members:
Linguists
Ragıp Hulûsi Özdem,
Ahmet Cevat Emre,
İbrahim Grandi Grantay,
Educators
Mehmet Emin Erişirgil,
İhsan Sungu,
Fazıl Ahmet Aykaç,
Writers and members of parliament
Falih Rıfkı Atay,
Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın,
Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu.
The commission started the work on the new alphabet on June 26, 1928. The letter Ö was adopted from the Swedish alphabet by suggestion from the Swedish interpreter of the Dragoman House (ambassador house) present at the commission for discussing the new alphabet. Ç was adopted from the Albanian alphabet, Ş was from the S-comma of the Romanian alphabet, and Ü is from the German alphabet.
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