Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

‘All schools were brought under the control of th e Ministry.’
(64) Hep babasının etkisi altında yaşadı.
‘He lived constantly under the influence of his father.’
(ii) Contexts where the complement is non-specific:
Non-specific indefinite complement (22.2.1):
(65) Bu hesapları bir kağıt üstünde yapmak daha kolay olacak.
‘It will be easier to do these calculations on a piece of paper.’
Categorial complement (22.3):
(66) Sanık ne zaman yargıç önüne çıkar acaba?
‘I wonder when the accused person will appear before a judge?’
Generic complement (22.4.2):
Postpositional phrases 223
(67) Genellikle kardeşler arasında kuvvetli bir daya nışma
‘There is usually a strong solidarity between siblings.’
The two conditions described in (i) and (ii) above often occur together.
For example, the complements of içinde in (61) and (62) are categorial, and the use of
arasında in (67) is non-spatial.
17.3.1.3 Particular features of individual postpositions in Group 1
(i) iç+POSS+OBL can also be used in the non-physical sense of ‘among’, i.e. expressing
inclusion in a set or group. In this particular sense it is interchangeable with
ara+POSS+OBL:
(68) Ali’nin giysileri içinde/arasında işine yarayacak bir şey bulabilirsin.
‘You may find something among Ali’s clothes to fit your needs.’
For the partitive use of iç+POSS+ABL/ara+POSS+ABL see 14.5.1 (ii), 14.5.2, 18.4 (vi),
19.2.1.4–5.
(ii) Some speakers use the form içeri+POSS+OBL (e.g. içerisinde) in preference to
iç+POSS+OBL (e.g. içinde). (For içeri in adverbial uses without possessive affixation
see 16.4.2.)
(iii) Üst has a synonym üzer-, which does not occur as a bare noun. It is
interchangeable with üst in the postpositional function, but nowadays its usage is mainly
confined to non-physical senses, as exemplified in (70) and (71).
(69) Masanın üstünde/ üzerinde bir şey yok.
‘There’s nothing on the table.’
The dative forms üstüne/ üzerine, with a non-case-marked complement, can mean ‘on’
in the metaphorical sense of ‘on the subject of’:
(70) Gençlerde uyuşturucu kullanımı üstüne/üzerine araştırma yapıyor.
‘S/he’s doing research on the use of drugs among young people.’