Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

e.necessary-VN-3SG.POSS-ACC
(b) Adam [gitmek zor-un-da ol-duğ-un]-u söyledi.
compulsion-NC-LOC be-VN-3SG.POSS-AC
‘The man said [he had to go].’
For the omission of genitive marking on the subject of a noun clause such as that in (131)
see 24.4.6 (iii).
21.4.3 EVIDENTIALLY MARKED STATEMENTS WITH -mIş OR -
(y)mIş
Another major category of speaker-generated modality consists of statements based upon
knowledge acquired indirectly. This is called evidential modality, and is marked in
Turkish by the verbal suffix -mIş, which (as explained in 21.2.1 and 21.3.1) also marks
relative past tense and perfective aspect, and the copular suffix -(y)mIş, which is purely a
marker of evidential modality. The source of the indirect knowledge upon which these
statements are based is usually either a statement made by someone else (in speech or in
writing) or a resultant state (e.g. a flat tyre as an indicator of the tyre having burst). In the
case of -(y)mIş the modality marker sometimes simply indicates that the statement
expresses a new discovery on the part of the speaker, which has not yet been fully
assimilated to his/her existing stock of knowledge.
For the use of the modal adverbial meğer(se) in evidentially marked statements see
16.3 (iv).
21.4.3.1 Information-based evidential statements
When speakers are transmitting information that they have received verbally from any
other source (oral or written), they give their statement evidential marking. Use of
evidential marking is not a matter of choice in Turkish. Failure to use it when making a
statement about a situation of which one has no direct knowledge is a breach of
conversational conventions, because it suggests that a different kind of knowledge
(personal experience or observation) is involved. The English equivalents of -mIş/ -(y)mIş
in this usage are expressions like ‘apparently’, ‘it seems’, ‘I gather’.
The way in which the verbal suffix -mIş replaces -DI in the verbal transmission of
information is illustrated in (132), which represents three separate, consecutive
encounters between the individuals involved:
(132)
Tense, aspect and modality 309
(a) (Ali, to Gül): Bahçe-ye bir meşe ağac-ı dik-ti-m.
garden-DAT an oak tree-NC plant-PF-1SG
‘I’ve planted an oak tree in the garden.’
(b) (Gül, to Orhan): Ali bahçe-sin-e bir meşe ağacı dik-miş.
garden-3SG.POSS-DAT -EV/PF
‘Ali has apparently planted an oak tree in his garden.’
(c) (Orhan, to Ali): Sen bir meşe ağacı dik-miş-sin, bana
-EV/PF-2SG