Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Glossary of grammatical terms 478
subject complement a noun phrase or adjectival phrase that forms (part of) the
predicate of a linking sentence (e.g. Siz komşumsunuz ‘You are my neighbour’) or of
a small clause (Sizi komşu sayıyorum ‘I consider you a neighbour)
subordinate clause a clause which forms a constituent within a complex sentence; there
are three functional types: noun clauses, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses
subordinating suffix one of a range of suffixes (e.g. -mAK, -(y)An, -(y)ken) that mark a
predicate as non-finite, and thus the clause in which it occurs as a subordinate
clause; apart from -(y)ken and the conditional copula marker -(y)sA, subordinating
suffixes can be attached only to verbal predicates
subordinator any linguistic item that marks a subordinate clause, whether a separate
word such as diye or ki, or a subordinating suffix
suffix a linguistic item that cannot stand on its own, but is added to the right of a root or
stem to form part of the same word; see derivational suffix and inflectional suffix
superordinate clause the clause within which a subordinate clause occurs; this may be
either the main clause of the sentence or another subordinate clause
tap consonant produced by a single rapid contact between the tongue and the roof of the
mouth
tense the grammatical marking of location in time: past, present or future (see also
relative tense)
topic a constituent taken as indicating what the sentence is ‘about’; this usually occurs at
the beginning of the sentence, but if marked by the topic-shifter dA it can occur in
other positions also
topic shifter a linguistic item which marks a change of topic
transitive verb a verb (such as al- ‘take’, iste- ‘want’) that requires to be complemented
by a direct object expressing an entity or entities directly affected by its action; the
direct object can be omitted in Turkish if it is obvious from the context
transnumeral (of a noun phrase) neutral with regard to number
universal conditional clause a Turkish conditional clause that includes a whphrase;
such clauses express the concepts whoever, wherever, etc.
universal quantifier quantifier denoting an entire class (e.g. all, each, everyone)
unmarked order the most neutral order of sentence constituents, found in contexts in
which no information is presupposed, and no constituent is given special emphasis
velar (consonant) articulated with the back of the tongue against the velum
velum the mobile fleshy area at the back of the mouth, behind the hard palate; also
known as the soft palate
verb a word that expresses an action, event, process or state, and which, in Turkish, takes
verbal suffixes, such as the infinitive suffix -mAk or the imperfective suffix -(I)yor:
yaz- ‘write’, düş- ‘fall’, eri‘melt’, görün- ‘seem’
verbal noun the non-finite verb of a noun clause
verbal sentence a sentence whose main or only clause has a finite verb (other than ol- in
its copular function) as its predicate
verb phrase that part of a clause which consists of the verb together with its
complement(s) and any modifying adverbials
voiced consonant a consonant pronounced while the vocal cords are vibrating (e.g. /b/,
/d/, /g/, /z/)