A Study on the Turkmen Primary and Secondary Long Vowels
(45th Meeting of the PIAC, Budapest 2002)
As a native speaker of the Turkmen language, I have always admired the late Lajos Ligeti’s article on Turkish long vowels (Turkish Translation of the article in Türkiyat Mecmuası entitled “Türkçe Uzun Vokaller”, Vol. VII–VIII, 1940–42, pp. 82–94). It has given me an insight into the stuy of the long vowels in the Turkmen language, which constitute the main feature of this language. The script today does not show the length of vowels and does not help to determine the vowel length in the Turkmen language. The vowel length is either determined by association in the first syllable, or there are set rules for the elongation of the vowels in the second syllables of the Turkmen words. It would give me a great pleasure if I could contribute to the commemoration of the 100th birth anniversary of the late great master.