Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

The noun phrase 151
(36) Dünya’dan Atatürk’ler, Nehru’lar geçmeseydi şimdiye kadar ne hale
gelirdik?
‘If people like Atatürk and Nehru had not passed through the world, what state
would we be in by now?’
(b) Another function of -lAr attached to the name of a person is to produce an
expression referring to the group normally associated with that person. This group
could consist just of the named person and his/her spouse/partner, or it could be
their family, group of friends, etc. The precise meaning varies with the context,
and this usage is confined to informal situations.
(37) Ahmet’ler gelmedi.
‘Ahmet and his wife/girlfriend/family/gang didn’t come.’
The same usage can occur with expressions of relationship. Note that in such expressions
the possessive suffix precedes the plural suffix.
(38) Abla-m-lar nerede?
elder.sister-1SG.POSS-PL
‘Where are my elder sister and her boyfriend/husband (etc)?’ (cf. abla-lar-ım
(elder.sister-PL-1SG.POSS) ‘my elder sisters’)
14.3.1.3 Transnumeral uses of the unmarked form
A noun phrase that is unmarked for number, i.e. whose head does not carry the plural
suffix and which does not have a numeral or other quantifying determiner among its
modifiers, may be either singular or transnumeral (number-neutral) in meaning. If it has
definite status it will have singular meaning, but if it has generic or categorial status it
will have transnumeral meaning. These various referential statuses are discussed in detail
in Chapter 22.
(39) İlaç bana çok iyi geldi.
‘The medicine did me a lot of good.’
(40) İlaç hastaya göre seçilmelidir.
‘The medicine/Medicines must be chosen according to the patient.’
(41) Doktor bana ilaç yazmadı.
‘The doctor didn’t prescribe me any medicine(s).’
The noun phrase ilaç ‘medicine’ is definite and therefore singular in (39), generic and
therefore transnumeral in (40), and categorial, therefore again transnumeral, in (41).
14.3.2 POSSESSION
The possessive suffixes (8.1.2) correspond to the six grammatical persons. A noun phrase
marked with a possessive suffix (except where this is a 3rd person suffix functioning as a
compound marker (10.2) or pronominalizer (18.4)) is understood as denoting a person or
thing that is possessed. The possessive suffix indicates only whether the possessor is 1st,
2nd or 3rd person, singular or plural.