Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

(c) Korkut’a yeni gömlek aldın mı?
‘Did you buy Korkut [a] new shirt/[any] new shirts?’
(b) The omission of olan in relative clauses whose verb is of the form -mIş olan
or -(y)AcAk olan is preferred where the relativized constituent is a non-specific
noun phrase (see 25.4.1.1 for details):
(24)
(a) {[Masaya bırakılmış] bir not} yeterli olurdu.
‘{A note [left on the table]} would have been enough.’
(b) {[Masaya bırakılmış olan] bir not}-ta kaloriferler, çöplerin toplanması,
pencerelerin kilitlenmesi gibi konularda bilgiler vardı.
‘In {a note [that had been left on the table]} there was information about the
central heating, rubbish collection, locking of windows, etc.’
In (24a) no note has been left; the subject noun phrase therefore represents a purely
hypothetical entity. This noun phrase is thus non-specific, and olan is omitted from the
relative clause modifying it. In (24b), on the other hand, the factual and affirmative past
tense predicate vardı indicates that a specific note is being described.
(c) In a limited range of contexts, where there is ambiguity between a specific and
a non-specific interpretation of a direct object, the use of accusative marking
favours the specific reading:
With verbs such as iste- ‘want’ and ara- ‘look for’:
(25)
(a) {Gürcistan folkloruyla ilgili bir kitap} arıyorum.
‘I’m looking for {a book about Georgian folklore}.’
(b) {Gürcistan folkloruyla ilgili bir kitab}-ı arıyorum.
‘I’m looking for {a book about Georgian folklore}.’
(25a) implies that the speaker would be interested in any book about Georgian folklore
that might be available. (25b), on the other hand, where the object is given accusative
marking, implies that the speaker has a specific title in mind.
A recurrent pattern of events:
(26)
Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 326
(a) Bazen masaya {bir örtü} yayardık.
‘Sometimes we would spread {a cloth} on the table.’
(b) Bazen masaya {[sarı çiçeklerle işlenmiş] bir örtü}-(yü) yayardık.
‘Sometimes we would spread on the table {a cloth [embroidered with yellow
flowers]}.’
(c) Bazen masaya {[Ayşe-nin biz-e Meksika-dan getir-diğ-i]
Ayşe-GEN we-DAT Mexico-ABL bring-PART-3SG.POSS
bir örtü}-(yü) yayardık
a cloth-ACC.