Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Principles of suffixation 47
(iv) Certain adjectives, some of which are themselves derived forms, lose their final
consonant (‘k’) when combining with derivational suffixes:
alçak ‘low’ +-(A)l _ alçal- ‘decline’
ufak ‘small’ +-(A/I)cIK _ ufacık ‘tiny’
küçük ‘small’ +-mAn _ küçümen ‘rather small’
Others lose their final vowel in such circumstances:
kuru ‘dry’ +-(A)K _ kurak ‘arid’
sarı ‘yellow +-(A)r _ sarar- ‘fade’
In speech, the locative pronouns bura- ‘here’, şura- ‘here’, ‘over there’ and ora- ‘there’
(18.3.1) and the wh-phrase nere- ‘where’ (19.2.1.3) may lose their final vowel when a
locative or ablative case marker is added:
bura- ‘here’ +-DA _ burda/burada ‘(in) here’
nere- ‘where’ +-Dan _ nerden/nereden ‘from where’
(v) Surnames ending in -oğlu: Note that -oğlu ‘son of’ contains the 3rd person singular
possessive suffix -(s)I (8.1.2), hence conforms to the pattern mentioned in (iib) above, as
in Senemoğlu’nu, Senemoğlu’ndan. However, case suffixes (but not -CA) can also
combine directly with such names, without an intermediary ‘n’, as in Senemoğlu’yu,
Senemoğlu’dan, etc. (but Senemoğlu’nca).
6.3 THE ORDER OF SUFFIXATION
In Turkish a large number of suffixes and clitics can be added to a single root. In the
overwhelming majority of cases, derivational suffixes (Chapter 7) precede inflectional
suffixes (Chapter 8). Clitics (Chapter 11) occur after inflectional suffixes.
(1) suç-lu-luk-la mı
crime-N.DER-N.DER-INS INT
DER-DER-INFL CL
‘in a guilty manner?’
(2) diz-ge-ler-im-de
arrange-N.DER-PL-1SG.POSS-LOC
DER-INFL-INFL-INFL
‘on my lists’
(3) yap-ı-laş-tır-ıl-ma-mış
build-N.DER-V.DER-CAUS-PASS-NEG-EV/PF
DER-DER-INFL-INFL-INFL-INFL
‘has not been built up’