Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

GLOSSARY OF GRAMMATICAL TERMS
ablative one of the five case markers (-DAn), often expressing concepts such as from,
out of, through
accusative one of the five case markers (-(y)I), indicating a direct object which is
definite or specific
active (of a verb form or sentence) which expresses the concept of someone or something
performing an action: Peter Smith wrote a book; opposed to passive
addressee the person to whom a speaker is speaking, also called the hearer
adjectival (phrase) any linguistic structure that performs the function of an adjective
adjective a word that ascribes some property, quality or status to the entity denoted by a
noun (e.g. blue, good, democratic, imaginary)
adverb a word that modifies (i.e. further specifies the meaning of) a verb, an adjective,
another adverb, or a whole sentence (e.g. easily, very, now, probably)
adverbial (phrase) any linguistic structure that performs the function of an adverb
adverbial clause a finite or non-finite subordinate clause that performs an adverbial
function in relation to its superordinate clause
affirmative not negative
affricate (consonant) produced by the gradual opening of the vocal tract after complete
closure
agent the item expressing the person(s) or thing(s) that perform the action of the verb;
identical with the subject in an active sentence, but either suppressed or expressed as
an optional constituent in a passive sentence
agreement the requirement for the predicate to be marked for person and number in
accordance with the person and number of the subject
allophone a variant form of pronunciation of a phonological unit
alveolar articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (the
bony ridged area just behind the upper front teeth)
antecedent a linguistic item (usually a noun phrase) which identifies the person(s) or
thing(s) referred to by a pronoun
aorist a finite verb form marked by the suffix -(A/I)r (or its negative counterpart -z); the
aorist expresses either habitual aspect or various kinds of modality: generalizing,
hypothetical, presumptive (with future time reference) or volitional
aspect the temporal viewpoint from which an event is presented; see perfective and
imperfective
aspirated (of a voiceless consonant) whose articulation is followed by an escape of
breath
attributive (of an adjectival) occurring as part of a noun phrase (e.g. pahalı bir araba
‘an expensive car’); cf. predicative
auxiliary verb a verb that cannot stand on its own, but occurs either suffixed to another
verb (bound auxiliary) or compounded with another verb or a nominal (free auxiliary)
back (of a vowel) articulated with the tongue positioned at the back of the oral cavity