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

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Turkish Phonology and Morphology (Türkçe Ses ve Biçim Bilgisi)
OPEN CLASSES IN TURKISH
Nouns
Can you imagine a language without nouns? I remember a student proposing this
to me once. She was frustrated with the terminology used in one of her courses
and was complaining about it to me. Her suggestion was not to use those technical
terms at all. This is exactly like a language without nouns. How can you say
something about, say a tree, without using the label a¤aç invented to refer to a
tree? How economic is it to express this meaning by saying you know that tall
plant in our garden with a long trunk made of wood which usually has leaves and
branches, and which can live for many years? Even this definition is not free of
nouns. Nouns are used as the means of labelling the world around us, and labelling
can be said to be the substantial purpose of the existence of language. Therefore,
nouns constitute one of the major word classes in a language.
In terms of their form, nouns in Turkish can be bare, derived, and compound.
Bare nouns have a root standing without any derivational morphemes attached to
them as in kuzu, lale, baba. Derived nouns are formed by affixation as in oyuncak,
bozgun. Compound nouns are made up of two words merged in one as in han›meli.
In terms of their semantics, nouns are classified as countable vs uncountable
(or mass). Kalem, kitap, masa are countable nouns since they can be individuated
and counted one by one. Nouns such as süt, yo¤urt, su are uncountable because
they cannot be individuated, thus cannot be counted. It is important to note,
however, that uncountable nouns may have count and mass interpretations.
Consider:
(4)
a. Bana bir ekmek verdi.
b. Bana biraz daha ekmek verdi.
In (4a) the noun ekmek is interpreted as a unit so it is countable. In (4b),
It is your turn!
1
It is your turn!
however, it is interpreted as a substance, therefore it cannot be counted. The
difference
1
between the two can also be shown by the choice of Wh- words to go
along with them. (4a) can be an answer to the question How many? whereas (4b)
It is your turn!
to the question It is your How turn! much? As we know, the former is used with countable nouns,
2 and the latter 2 with uncountable nouns.
It is your turn!
Do the underlined It is your turn! noun phrases have count or mass interpretation?
3 a. Bu 3hafta
hep köfte yedik.
b. Dört köfte bir çocuk için çok de¤il mi?
It is your turn!
4
It is your turn!
Nouns can also be classified as abstract vs concrete. Concrete nouns denote
4
the physical entities that can be perceived through our senses. They may refer to
common members of a category such as kad›n, erkek, kedi, masa, sandalye,
It is your turn!
5
It is your turn!
known as common nouns; or to a particular person, place, or thing such as
Hakan, Otel 5 Anadolu, Kafl›kç› Elmas›, known as proper nouns. Abstract nouns,
on the other hand, refer to a quality, state or action as in iyilik, açl›k, yalan.
It is your turn!
As mentioned It is your turn! elsewhere, Turkish allows overlaps between word classes, so
6 adjectives, 6 adverbs and postpositions can be used as nouns as in:
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
7 7
It is your turn!
It is your turn!
8 8