Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

14.5.1 THE BARE-HEADED PARTITIVE CONSTRUCTION WITH
ABLATIVE-MARKED MODIFIER
Structurally, the distinguishing characteristic of this construction is that the bare noun
phrase functioning as the head must itself be headed by one of the following: a proper
name, a common noun, or the enumerator tane (15.8). There are three subtypes:
(i) Partitives in which the head noun phrase is a proper name.
These differ from all other kinds of partitive constructions in that the head noun phrase
is definite. The function of the ablative-marked modifier noun phrase here is to provide
additional, descriptive information about the person or place identified by the proper
name:
(120) Bugünkü konuğumuz, {ülke-miz-in genç şair-ler-in-den Küçük
country-1PL.POSS-GEN young poet-PL-
3SG.POSS-ABL
İskender}.
‘Our guest today is Küçük İskender, [one] of our country’s young poets.’
(121) {Batı Afrika ülkelerinden Sierra Leone}-de on yıldan beri iç savas var.
‘In Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa, there has been civil war for ten years.’
This type of partitive construction occurs also in the question used to ask the day of
the week:
(122) Bugün {günlerden ne}?
‘What day is it today?’
The noun phrase 165
(ii) Partitives in which the (bare) head noun phrase is itself headed by a common noun,
and in which the meaning of the head noun phrase is relatively independent of the
modifier noun phrase.
The modifier noun phrase here may, as in type (i), have a descriptive rather than a
truly partitive function:
(123) Rehberimiz, {Abdülhamit dönemi mimari eserlerinden bir mescid}-e
dikkat çekti.
‘Our guide drew attention to a small mosque, [one] of the architectural works of
Abdülhamit’s reign.’
However, it may also identify the individual(s) expressed by the head as belonging to a
specific set:
(124) {Bu yılkı misafirlerimizden yirmi otuz aile} şimdiden gelecek yıl için
rezervasyon yaptılar.
‘{Twenty or thirty families from among our guests this year} have already made
reservations for next year.’
Where the noun phrase defining the set has been mentioned in the immediately preceding
context, the ablative-marked modifier is usually one of the possessive-marked
postpositions iç- or ara- ‘among’ (17.3.1.3):