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vef4
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Why is vowel length not considered phonemic in Turkish?

Excuse me if this is a very novice question, but there are pairs in Turkish like "yağma" (plunder) /ja:ma/ and "yama" (patch) /jama/, or "olan" (one that's there) /olan/ and "oğlan" (boy) /o:lan/ where vowel length is the only differing element. Why do we consider vowel length not to be phonemic?

vef4
  • 137
  • 3