Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Glossary of grammatical terms 475
modifier a non-obligatory constituent of certain types of phrase, which ‘modifies’ (i.e.
makes more specific) the meaning of the head; nouns and noun compounds can be
modified by determiners, numerals and adjectivals (o dört büyük ağaç ‘those four big
trees’), while verbs, adjectives and adverbs can be modified by adverbials (erken gel-
‘come early’, fazla büyük ‘too big’, fazla erken ‘too early’)
nasal (sound) produced while the velum is lowered to allow the audible escape of air
through the nose; in the case of nasal consonants, such as /m/ and /n/, there is complete
closure of the oral cavity
nominal a word belonging to one of the following (related) classes: noun, pronoun,
adjective and adverb
nominal sentence a sentence whose main or only clause either contains no verb or whose
verb is one of the forms of the copula; the two types of nominal sentence are linking
sentences and existential sentences
nominalized forms forms derived from verbs by means of a subordinating suffix (such
as -DIK or -mA), and functioning as nominals
nominal-verb compound a lexical item functioning as a verb, which is formed by the
combination of a nominal with a free auxiliary such as et- or ol- (e.g. mücadele et-
‘fight’, memnun ol- ‘be pleased’)
non-definite indefinite or categorial
non-finite clause a subordinate clause in which the verb is non-finite, i.e. marked with a
subordinating suffix
non-specific see under indefinite; also used as a cover term for categorial and generic
noun a word that denotes a class of things or persons, a member of such a class, a
substance, an abstract concept, or the proper name of a person or place (e.g. table, girl,
water, knowledge, Ahmet, Turkey)
noun clause a finite or non-finite subordinate clause that performs the function of a noun
phrase within its superordinate clause
noun compound a word-like unit which is made up of two nouns (e.g. kız kardeş ‘sister’,
balık lokantası ‘fish restaurant)’ or an adjective and a noun (e.g. ilkbahar ‘spring’); the
majority of noun compounds in Turkish are -(s)I compounds
noun phrase any word or sequence of words that can function as the subject or object in
a sentence (e.g. it, the others, a very loud noise, Mary’s uncle, the car you usually
drive); the head of a noun phrase may be a noun, a noun compound, or a pronoun
number the distinction between singular and plural
object see direct object, oblique object
oblique case markers this term is applied to the dative, locative and ablative case
markers, and sometimes also to the comitative/instrumental marker
oblique object the complement of an intransitive verb, marked in Turkish by one of the
oblique case markers, or by the comitative/instrumental marker: Bun-a çok
sevindim ‘I ‘m v ery ple ased about this’, Mehmet’le alay ettiler They made fun of
Mehmet’
optative a finite verb form expressing the speaker’s (or, in questions, the hearer’s) will or
desire
ordinal numeral a numeral which indicates an ordered position in a series (first, second,
etc.)
palatal (consonant) articulated with the blade of the tongue against the hard palate