The Hat Symbol (^) in Turkish - Mastering the Circumflex

While reading a Turkish book or watching Turkish news channels, you might have come across this weird diacritic above certain vowels.

What is that hat above those Turkish letters? This isn't FRENCH?! – You (probably)

What is that hat above those Turkish letters? This isn't FRENCH?!

That pesky little thing is called the circumflex (^) – the only diacritic used in Turkish orthography. Even many native speakers do not use this crucial diacritic, believing it has long been removed from writing, but that is not true.

The hat symbol has many important functions in Turkish, which you will master in today’s blog. Knowing where the hat symbol occurs and what it changes about the letters surrounding it will let you better distinguish words and speak more clearly. Let’s jump right into it!

1. Where does the hat symbol (circumflex) occur in Turkish?

The circumflex, a.k.a. düzeltme işareti (redaction sign) or şapka (hat) in Turkish, occurs in loanwords from Arabic and Persian, strictly above the vowels A, U, and İ (Ââ, Ûû, Îî). There are two things to note here:

1. Notice that when it is written above an İ, it replaces the dot;

2. Û can look like Ü, and Î may resemble İ  in fine print, or when they are poorly written (when writing them yourself, make sure to accentuate the sharp angle of the circumflex).

 Now let’s learn about the hat’s functions.

2. Indicating palatalized consonants

Palatalized consonants are produced with the tongue body bunched up and raised towards the hard palate (the roof of the mouth). Turkish has palatalized variants of 4 consonants – G, K, L, and T.

Palatalized G and K (and L in proper nouns) are indicated with the circumflex (^) placed above the succeeding vowel. Here are some examples (click on a highlighted word to hear its pronunciation:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
tezgâh	tez'gʲah	countertop
dükkân	dük'kʲan	small store
zekâ	ze'kʲa:	intelligence
mahkûm	mah'kʲum	prisoner, inmate
yadigâr	ya:di'gʲar	heirloom, memento
Kâzım	kʲa:'zım	a male given name
Lâle	lʲa:'le	a female given name
Elâzığ	e'lʲazı:	a city in Türkiye

Pronunciation legend:

ʲ - palatalization of the preceding consonant

: - long vowel

' - the following syllable is stressed

If you would like to learn more about palatalized consonants in Turkish and how to pronounce them, check out my previous blog.

3. Differentiating between minimal pairs

A minimal pair is two words that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme (sound), syllable stress, tone (the rising/falling stuff in Chinese), or phoneme length (how long a sound is pronounced). Thanks to its numerous loanwords, Turkish has many minimal pairs differing in vowel length.

To differentiate between such minimal pairs, the word with the long vowel(s) is spelled with a hat (^) above each long vowel, while the word with the short vowels remains unchanged. As always, examples:

• hala (paternal aunt) – hâlâ (yet, still)

• ama (but) – âmâ (blind)

• alem (flag) – âlem (world, universe)

• aşık (ankle bone, talus) – âşık (in love, lover)

• adet (piece, count) – âdet (tradition, custom)

• ala (colorful, speckled) – âlâ (fine, superior)

4. Differentiating between the accusative/3rd person singular possessive suffix and the nisba suffix

The nisba suffix (-i, pronounced i:) is a suffix borrowed from Arabic that is used to create adjectives out of borrowed nouns. On the other hand, Turkish has two preexisting suffixes – the accusative (-[y]i) and the 3rd person singular possessive suffix (-[s]i) – that form minimal pairs with the nisba suffix, differing only in vowel length.

To avoid confusion, in cases where minimal pairs are formed, the nisba suffix is written with a circumflex (-î) to differentiate it from the native suffixes. Let’s take a look at a few minimal pairs:

Original Word	Meaning	Accusative/3rd Person Singular Possessive	Nisba
resim	picture	Ali’nin resmi yırtıldı. Ali’s picture was ripped.	Resmî belgeleri bulduk. We found the official documents.
tarih	history	Türkiye’nin tarihi pek zengin. Türkiye’s history is very rich.	Tarihî eserler kaçırıldı. The historical artefacts were stolen.
din	religion	Budist dini yaygın. The Buddhist religion is common.	Dinî bayramları kutlamalıyız. We should celebrate religious holidays.
asker	soldier	10 Türk askeri yaralandı. 10 Turkish soldiers were injured.	Trump, askerî güce yatırım yapacak. Trump will invest in military power.
edep	manners, decency	Halkın edebi bozuldu. The public's manners have been corrupted.	Edebî yazım tarzını severim. I like the literary writing style.
fiil	verb	O fiili öğrenmedim daha. I haven’t learned that verb yet.	Şirketin fiilî sahibi benim. I am the company’s de facto owner.