Phonotactics in the Turkish Language

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the phonotactic structure of the Turkish phonological system on the basis of an extensive Turkish linguistic corpus. In a descriptive study, the distribution of Turkish consonants in onset and coda positions as well as consonantal sequences across syllable boundary (in c.c) and coda clusters (in cvcc syllable were examined. Results showed that stops and affricates in syllable onset position are most frequent, which is in line with the hierarchy of sonority scale assumed by the constraint *ONSET/X (Selkirk, 1984). Furthermore, the study of sound sequences in various syllable structures revealed that sonorants are more frequent than stops in coda position (in cvc), and also closer to syllable head than stops in coda clusters (in cvcc). This finding contradicts the predictions assumed by the constraint *CODA/X. Further results indicated that the distribution of Turkish consonants in coda clusters (in cvcc) are in conformity with the Sonority Sequencing Principle with the least marked phonotactic structure. However, the distribution of consonants across syllable boundary (in c.c) involves various consonantal sequences including those which belong to the same or similar natural class of consonants.