turkish phonology and morphology (türkçe ses ve b‹ç‹mb‹lg‹s‹)

We know that proper nouns and pronouns are definite by definition. Their
referents can be identified by both the speaker and the hearer. Therefore, Sevgi
and the pronoun that replaces it in (5a, c) are inherently definite. So, they do not
really need a case marker to gain this status. Why are they case marked then? As
mentioned elsewhere, in case of more than one definite bare noun in a sentence;
accusative, as an object marker, is used to distinguish their syntactic functions. The
accusative case marked noun is the direct object, the nominative noun is the
subject of the sentence.
What about the syntactic function of common nouns? They too are obligatorily
marked with the accusative case when they are not used in the preverbal position.
(6) a. ‹fladam› gazeteye ilan verdi.
b. *‹fladam› ilan gazeteye verdi.
Unit 7 - Grammatical Categories
The ungrammaticality of (6b) indicates that object noun phrases with no overt
case marking are restricted to the position immediately before the verb. If they have
to be used, for any pragmatic reason, in any other position, they must be marked
with the accusative so as not to be taken as the subject of the sentence. Therefore,
ifladam› ilan› gazeteye verdi is perfectly grammatical since the subject and the
object of the sentence can clearly be distinguished by case marking.
Function of Completeness
In addition to its syntactic and semantic functions discussed above, the accusative
case, when used with noun phrases expressing location, interestingly expresses a
complete coverage of the object affected by the verb. For example, merdiveni ç›kt›
as oppossed to merdivene ç›kt› indicates that the subject of the sentence climbed
all the way up to the top of the stairs/ladder. However, merdivene ç›kt› suggests
that the subject has just stepped on the stairs/ladder. Other examples include:
(7) a. Yolu yürüdü. Pastay› yedi. Cellat askerin It is your bafl›n› turn! vurdu.
It is your turn!
b. Yoldan yürüdü. Pastadan yedi. Cellat askeri bafl›ndan
1
vurdu.
1
The accusative case marked noun phrases in (7a) are affected by the action of
the verb on a larger scale than the ones in (7b). The subject has It is walked your turn! all the way
It is your turn!
down the road, s/he has eaten the entire cake, and s/he cut off the head. 2 2
What is the function of the accusative in the following?
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
Etem dondurmay› sevmez ama bu dondurmay› yedi ve çok sevdi. 3 3
The Dative Case -(y)A
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
The indirect objects of ditransitive verbs in Turkish are obligatorily marked with
4 4
the dative case.
(8) Kitab› Zeynep-e verdim.
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
Zeynep-e tuzu uzatt›m.
Evi Zeynep-e satt›m.
5 5
Zeynep-e eflyalar›n› götürdüm.
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
6
In all of the examples in (8), the possession of the objects kitap, tuz, ev, and
eflyalar is transfered to Zeynep, which in turn makes it the indirect object of
6
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
7 7
103
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
8 8