My name means rain in Turkish. As cliché as it sounds, my family named me Yağmur because it was pouring rain on a hot summer day in my hometown when I was born. The funny little g with a “hat” <ğ>, is called soft g and lengthens the immediately preceding vowel. The word-final rhotic is also devoiced in this environment (see Özçelik 2025 for more details on Turkish phonology, and please don't come for me).

Its phonetic transcription is [jaːmur̥]. Here is a short recording on how to pronounce it.

Many of my linguistics examples include the name Çayan, my maternal family name. I use it as a small tribute to my grandparents. During the political turmoil in Turkey in the 1980s, my grandfather was wrongfully imprisoned due to a misunderstanding surrounding our family name. May you rest in peace, dedecim.

Outside of linguistics, I enjoy landscapes, and everyday scenes that make up the texture of the places where I have lived and traveled. I like documenting these visually. Some selected photographs appear on the right. Click on any image to view it at a larger size.