Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 458
28.4.1.1 Omission of copular markers and person markers
A person marker (8.4) from group 2 can be omitted if it is directly attached to one of the
markers from position 3 on the verb:
(115) Eskiden Kayseri’ye gitmiş(…), hatta orada yaşamışlar.
‘Apparently at one time they went to Kayseri and even lived there.’
If the predicate contains a copular marker (8.3.2) and/or the generalizing modality marker
-DIr (8.3.3) these can only be omitted together with any person marker that is present
(8.4). The conjunct which is ‘incomplete’ can be either a subject complement, as in (116),
or a verb inflected with one of the position 3 suffixes, as in (117):
(116) Öğretmen(…) ve bilim insanı-ymış.
teacher and scientist-EV.COP
‘Apparently s/he is/was a teacher and a scientist.’
(117) Hem sinema-ya git-miş(…) h em de biraz gez-miş-ti-m.
both cinema-DAT go-PF both also a.little go.around-PF-P.COP-1SG
‘I had both gone to the cinema and walked around a bit.’
In alternative questions (19.1.2) which contain the combination copular marker+person
marker, usually the suffixes in the last conjunct are omitted.
(118) Öğretmen misiniz (yoksa) öğrenci mi(…)?
‘Are you a teacher, or a student?’
Of the position 3 suffixes, those which can occur in suspended affixation constructions
are -(I)yor, -mIş, -(A/I)r, -(y)AcAk, -mAlI and -mAk tA. that in 1st person negative aorist
verb forms (which do not contain an aorist suffix, eg. oyna-ma-m (play-NEG-1SG) ‘I
don’t/won’t play’) suspended affixation is not possible, and these have to occur in their
full form in conjoined constructions.
28.4.1.2 Omission of nominal inflectional markers
In noun phrases, the following suffixes can be suspended:
(i) The plural suffix (8.1.1) can be suspended, but only if any other suffixes following
it are also suspended.
(119) bütün kitap(…) ve de fterlerimiz
‘all our books and notebooks’
(ii) Case markers (8.1.3), the comitative/instrumental marker -(y)lA/ile (8.1.4) and the
suffix -sIz ‘without’ (7.2.2.2) can be suspended on their own:
(120) Vapur hem Napoli(…) hem Venedik’e uğruyormuş.
‘Apparently the boat stops at both Naples and Venice.’
(121) kitap(…) ya da deftersiz
‘without books or notebooks’