Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Glossary of grammatical terms 474
indirect question a noun clause whose content would, if converted into an independent
sentence, express a question (e.g. where Louise is in I don’t know where Louise is)
indirect statement a noun clause whose content would, if converted into an independent
sentence, express a statement (e.g. you’re right in I know you’re right)
inflected (of a word) that contains at least one inflectional suffix
inflection alteration of the grammatical form of a word by the addition (to the lexical
form) of one or more inflectional suffixes
inflectional suffix a suffix which changes the grammatical form of a word; in verbs,
inflectional suffixes express categories such as voice, negation, tense, aspect, modality
and person/number; in nominals they express categories such as number, possession
and case
instrumental the concept with denoting use of an instrument, or by denoting use of a
means of transport or communication
intonational phrase a unit of speech (one, or more usually, several words) containing
one primary stress and a single intonation contour
intonation contour one of a number of distinctive patterns of rise and fall in the pitch of
the voice
intransitive verb a verb that either takes no complement (e.g. laugh, walk, sleep), or
takes an oblique object (expressed in English using a preposition, e.g. look
(at/after/for)
labio-dental (consonant) articulated with the lower lip against the upper front teeth
lateral (consonant) produced by air flowing around a complete closure formed in the
mouth
lexical item a linguistic form that one would expect to find as an item in a dictionary of
the language; normally the uninflected form of a word
lexicalized a term applied to an inflected word or phrase which, through usage, has
acquired the status of a lexical item (e.g. diye, olarak, gelince)
lexical verb in a compound verb form the first of the two verbs, and the one that
provides the lexical (dictionary) meaning
linking sentence a nominal sentence expressing the basic notion x is y (or, in the
negative, x is not y (where is stands for any form of the verb be)
locative one of the five case markers (-DA), expressing spatial, temporal or abstract
location (in, on, at)
locative existential see existential sentence
low vowel a vowel produced by lowering the tongue below its neutral position
main clause in a complex sentence, the clause which includes, and is superordinate to,
all the others
mid vowel a vowel produced with the tongue at a level intermediate between high and
low
modal adverbial an adverbial expressing the speaker’s stance towards the utterance that
is being made (e.g. belki ‘perhaps’, maalesef ‘unfortunately’)
modality a grammatical category whose expression is linked with that of tense and
aspect, and which concerns the speaker’s degree of commitment to the truth of a
statement, the speaker’s attitude towards the potential occurrence of an event, or
general notions of possibility or necessity