turkce-sayi

A LuaLaTeX package that automatically applies Turkish suffix harmony to numbers produced by LaTeX (page references, section numbers, counters).

The Problem

Turkish suffixes must agree phonologically with the word they attach to. When a number is written as a digit, the suffix depends on how that number is pronounced in Turkish — which LaTeX cannot know at editing time.

Writing a fixed suffix works for some numbers but silently breaks for others:

The Solution

turkce-sayi looks up the phonological properties of the number's Turkish name and rewrites the suffix string at compile time using four rules:

1. Consonant hardening — d→t, c→ç when the number ends in a voiceless consonant (e.g. üç, dört, kırk).
2. Consonant softening — t→d, ç→c when it ends in a voiced consonant or vowel.
3. Vowel harmony — e/a shifts 2-way (front/back); i/ı/ü/u shifts 4-way based on the number's final vowel.
4. Buffer letter / vowel drop — when both the number and the suffix start with a vowel, three sub-cases apply:
   • single-vowel suffix (dative/accusative): insert y — 6'ya, 6'yı
   • V+n suffix (genitive): insert n — 6'nın
   • all other vowel-initial suffixes: drop the first vowel — 2'nci, 2'm

Rules are applied character-by-character to the full suffix string with no predefined suffix list, so compound suffixes such as dekilerden work automatically. Invariant morphemes (-ki, -yor, -ken, -gil, -leyin, -mtırak) are detected and harmony is reset to their vowel so that subsequent morphemes harmonize correctly.

Usage

\usepackage{turkce-sayi}   % requires lualatex

\trkappend{6}{'de}          % 6'da
\trkappend{3}{'inci}        % 3'üncü
\trkpageref{sec:intro}{'de} % e.g. 5'te  (uses \pageref internally)
\trkref{sec:results}{'de}   % e.g. 2'de  (uses \ref internally)

The apostrophe (or any leading punctuation) is part of the suffix argument — the package transforms only the letter portion and leaves the punctuation untouched.

For the possessive/definite suffix, supply the buffer consonant yourself since a bare vowel is ambiguous:

\trkappend{6}{'i}    % 6'yı  — accusative (y-buffer is the default)
\trkappend{6}{'si}   % 6'sı  — possessive/definite (user writes "si")

For bibliography (numeric) citations, use the bracket-aware variants:

\trkbibappend{3}{'te}              % [3]'te  — number known directly
\trkbibref{smith2021}{'de}         % [3]'te  — resolved from cite key
\trkbibref{jones,smith2021}{'de}   % [1, 3]'te  — list: suffix from last key

An escape hatch is available for cases the rules cannot handle:

\trkmanual{6}{'daş}                   % 6'daş — no transformation applied

% Override: when the algorithm produces 'üncü for 100, use 'uncu instead.
% Other suffixes for 100 (e.g. 'de) are unaffected.
\trksetoverride{100}{üncü}{uncu}
\trkappend{100}{'inci}                % 100'uncu  (override fired)
\trkappend{100}{'de}                  % 100'de    (no override for 'de)
\trkremoveoverride{100}{üncü}         % restore automatic behaviour

Files

Requirements

• LuaLaTeX (LuaTeX 1.10 / TeX Live 2019 or later)
• Standard packages: iftex, luatexbase, refcount

Compiling the sample documents

l3build doc

Or directly from the project root:

lualatex --output-directory=build/doc doc/ornek.tex
lualatex --output-directory=build/doc doc/ornek.tex      # second pass for refs
lualatex --output-directory=build/doc doc/dokumanlar.tex
lualatex --output-directory=build/doc doc/dokumanlar.tex

License

LPPL 1.3c — https://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt