Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 296
(ii) Normative or prescriptive statements:
The use of the aorist is standard in text types ranging from constitutions to recipes,
that lay down a procedure that is to be followed. However, such statements are usually
capable of either a descriptive or a prescriptive reading:
(59) Başbakan, Cumhurbaşkanı tarafından görevlendirilir.
‘The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.’
(60) Burada musluk suyu içilmez.
‘One doesn’t drink the tap water here.’ (lit. ‘the tap water is not drunk’)
The corresponding form with -(I)yor, on the other hand, is more descriptive:
(61) Burada musluk suyu içilmiyor.
‘Here people do not drink the tap water.’ (lit. ‘the tap water is not drunk’)
The passive of the negative aorist form is regularly used in public notices expressing
prohibitions:
(62) Girilmez ‘No entry’
Park yapılmaz ‘No parking’
(iii) Generic statements about the characteristic qualities or behaviour of a class:
(63) Kaplumbağa yavaş yürür.
‘A tortoise walks slowly.’
(64) Amerika’lılar çok süt içer.
‘(The) Americans drink a lot of milk.’
The substitution of -(I)yor for the aorist in sentences like (63), where the subject is bare,
changes the reference of this noun phrase from generic to specific (see 22.7). Thus in (65)
kaplumbağa refers to a specific tortoise:
(65) Kaplumbağa yavaş yürüyor.
‘The tortoise walks/is walking slowly.’
In (66) the plural-marked Amerika’lılar could retain its generic reading (see 22.7), but
could also refer to a specific group of Americans:
(66) Amerika’lılar çok süt içiyor.
‘The Americans are drinking/drink a lot of milk.’
(iv) Statements about the characteristic qualities or behaviour of an individual:
(67) Ali sigara iç-mez.
-NEG.AOR
‘Ali doesn’t smoke.’
(68) Ali sigara iç-mi-yor.
-NEG.IMPF
‘Ali doesn’t smoke.’