turkish syntax, semantics

T.C. ANADOLU NVERSTES YAYINI NO: 2421

AIKRETM FAKLTES YAYINI NO: 1405

TURKISH SYNTAX, SEMANTICS,PRAGMATICS

AND DISCOURSE

(TRKE TMCE BLGS,ANLAMBLM, EDMBLM

VE SYLEM ZMLEMES)

YazarlarDo.Dr. mit Deniz TURAN (nite 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)Prof.Dr. Gl DURMUfiOLU KSE (nite 6, 7)

EditrProf.Dr. Zlal BALPINAR

ANADOLU NVERSTES

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Genel Koordinatr YardmcsDo.Dr. Mjgan Bozkaya

retim TasarmcsProf.Dr. Erhan Erolu

Program YneticisiProf.Dr. Handan Yavuz

Grafik Tasarm YnetmenleriProf. Tevfik Fikret Uar

r.Gr. Cemalettin Yldz r.Gr. Nilgn Salur

lme Deerlendirme Sorumlusur.Gr. Ayflegl Tokbudak

r.Gr. Mutlu Dnmez

Kitap Koordinasyon BirimiDo.Dr. Feyyaz BodurUzm. Nermin zgr

Kapak DzeniProf. Tevfik Fikret Uar

DizgiAkretim Fakltesi Dizgi Ekibi

Turkish Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics and Discourse(Trke Tmce Bilgisi, Anlambilim, Edimbilim ve Sylem zmlemesi)

ISBN 978-975-06-1094-3

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Bu kitap ANADOLU NVERSTES Web-Ofset Tesislerinde 2.000 adet baslmfltr.ESKfiEHR, Ocak 2013

indekilernsz ............................................................................................................ vii

Syntax .......................................................................................... 1INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 3SYNTAX ......................................................................................................... 3GRAMMAR..................................................................................................... 4Descriptive and Prescriptive Grammar?....................................................... 4Mental Grammar............................................................................................ 4Competence and Performance..................................................................... 6Grammaticality vs. Acceptability .................................................................. 7Summary ........................................................................................................ 9Self-test .......................................................................................................... 10Turkish Alive ................................................................................................. 11References ..................................................................................................... 12Key to it is your turn.................................................................................. 12

The Internal Structure of Syntactic Categories:Constituents ............................................................................. 14

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 15CONSTITUENTS ............................................................................................ 15Relationships Between the Members of a Constituent .............................. 18Tests for Constituency .................................................................................. 21

Substitution Test ................................................................................... 21Deletion Test ........................................................................................ 22Moveability............................................................................................ 23

Summary ........................................................................................................ 24Self-test .......................................................................................................... 25Turkish Alive ................................................................................................ 27References ..................................................................................................... 27Key to it is your turn ................................................................................. 28

Sentence Structure And Phrase Structure .......................... 30INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 31SENTENCES AND CLAUSES ........................................................................ 31Immediate Constituents of Clauses: Subjects and Predicates .................... 31Subjects ......................................................................................................... 33

Subject-verb Agreement in Sentences ................................................ 34Predicates ...................................................................................................... 34PHRASES AND PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES ............................................ 34NOUN PHRASES (NPs) ................................................................................ 36POSTPOSITIONAL PHRASES ....................................................................... 39ADJECTIVE PHRASES................................................................................... 41ADVERB PHRASES AND ADVERBIALS ...................................................... 43The Realization of Adverbials ..................................................................... 44

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UNIT 1

UNIT 2

UNIT 3

VERB PHRASES ............................................................................................ 47Types of Verbs in Turkish ........................................................................... 47Why Are Object Complements Inside The VP? .......................................... 49What Else is in VPs? ..................................................................................... 49Copular Verbs ............................................................................................... 50Summary ........................................................................................................ 54Self-test .......................................................................................................... 55Turkish Alive ................................................................................................ 56References ..................................................................................................... 57Key to it is your turn ................................................................................. 57

Complex Sentences: Noun Clauses, Relative Clauses,Adverbial Clauses ................................................................... 60

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 61TYPES OF CLAUSES ..................................................................................... 61COORDINATION .......................................................................................... 64SUBORDINATION ........................................................................................ 65SUBORDINATE CLAUSES IN COMPLEX SENTENCES ............................... 65NOUN CLAUSES............................................................................................ 65The Internal Structure of Noun Clauses ...................................................... 67Fact and Act Noun Clauses .......................................................................... 72Independent Clauses That Function as Noun Clauses .............................. 73ki .................................................................................................................... 74Diye ............................................................................................................... 74RELATIVE CLAUSES (RCs) ........................................................................... 74Forming Relative Clauses in Turkish .......................................................... 74NP Accessibility Hierarchy in RCs ............................................................... 75RC Morphemes and Their Meanings ........................................................... 76-En ................................................................................................................ 77-DIk ........................................................................................................... 77-(y)EcEk ........................................................................................................ 78-mIfl ............................................................................................................... 79Unproductive RC Morphemes ..................................................................... 80-Ir and -mEz .................................................................................................. 80-mE ............................................................................................................... 80-Esl ............................................................................................................... 80RCs as Independent Clauses ....................................................................... 80TYPES OF RELATIVE CLAUSES .................................................................. 81Restrictive Relative Clauses (RRC) ............................................................ 81Non-restrictive Relative Clauses (NRC) ....................................................... 81Differences Between Restrictive and Non-restrictive RelativeClauses .......................................................................................................... 81Headless Relative Clauses ............................................................................ 82ADVERBIAL CLAUSES (Adv.C) .................................................................... 83Summary ....................................................................................................... 86Self-test ......................................................................................................... 87

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UNIT 4

Turkish Alive ................................................................................................ 88References ..................................................................................................... 89Key to it is your turn ................................................................................. 89

Semantics ................................................................................. 92INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 93Denotation and Connotation ....................................................................... 93Lexical Relations............................................................................................ 94Hyponymy .................................................................................................... 94Synonymy ...................................................................................................... 95Antonymy ..................................................................................................... 95Homonymy ................................................................................................... 96Polysemy ...................................................................................................... 97SENTENCE LEVEL SEMANTICS: BASIC CONCEPTS ................................... 98Entailment ..................................................................................................... 98Presupposition............................................................................................... 98Summary ....................................................................................................... 100Self-test........................................................................................................... 101Turkish Alive ................................................................................................. 102References...................................................................................................... 103Key to Its your turn...................................................................................... 104

Pragmatics................................................................................ 106INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 107DEFINING PRAGMATICS ............................................................................. 108THE FEATURES OF PRAGMATICS .............................................................. 109Context ........................................................................................................ 109SPEECH ACTS................................................................................................ 111Direct Speech Acts ........................................................................................ 111Performative................................................................................................... 112

Performative Verbs.................................................................................. 112Identifying Performatives ...................................................................... 113Felicity Conditions................................................................................... 114Indirect Speech Acts ............................................................................... 115

CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS (GRICEAN MAXIMS).................................... 116Quantity ......................................................................................................... 117Quality ........................................................................................................... 117Relation .......................................................................................................... 117Manner ........................................................................................................... 117Implicature..................................................................................................... 118DEIXIS............................................................................................................ 119Deictic Reference .......................................................................................... 120Person Deixis................................................................................................. 120Place Deixis ................................................................................................... 120Time Deixis.................................................................................................... 121Presupposition............................................................................................... 122POLITENESS PRINCIPLE AND FACE-SAVING ............................................ 123Politeness as Face-Saving ............................................................................. 124CONVERSATION ANALYSIS......................................................................... 126

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UNIT 5

UNIT 6

Summary ........................................................................................................ 128Self Test ......................................................................................................... 129Turkish Alive ................................................................................................. 130References...................................................................................................... 131Key to Self Test ............................................................................................. 131

Discourse Analysis ................................................................... 134INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 135Defining Discourse Analysis (DA) ............................................................... 135Examples Of Discourse / Text ..................................................................... 136Pragmatics vs. Discourse Analysis................................................................ 141Properties Of Discourse / Text ................................................................... 141

Cohesion.................................................................................................. 141Coherence .............................................................................................. 145

Other Aspects Of Discourse ........................................................................ 146Summary Of Discourse Properties ............................................................... 148Types Of Discourse....................................................................................... 149Written and Spoken Discourse..................................................................... 151Spoken Discourse Analysis........................................................................... 152

Turn-Taking ............................................................................................. 152Discourse Markers................................................................................... 153

Summary ....................................................................................................... 155Self-test ......................................................................................................... 156Turkish Alive ................................................................................................ 157References .................................................................................................... 158Key to Its your turn .................................................................................... 159

Key to self-test ................................................................ 161Glossary ............................................................................... 163

indek i lervi

UNIT 7

nszSevgili renciler,

Gz Dneminde Trke Ses ve Biim Bilgisi dersinizi tamamladnz. Trkeninses ve biim yaps hakknda bilgi edindiniz. Bu dersimiz de ise, Trkenin szckdizini hakknda bilgi edinecek ve dilin farkl kullanmlarda, balamlarda ve sylem-de nasl farkllafltn greceksiniz. Bu ders neden burada diye sorarsanz, size yineayn yant vereceiz. Bir yabanc dili renmenin, hele iyi bir yabanc dil renme-nin ve retmenin yolu ok iyi bir anadil bilgisi ve becerisinden geer. Nasl m? Si-ze flyle aklamaya alflalm.

nsanolunun sahip olduu en nemli zellii dil becerisidir. nsan dil kul-la-narak doadaki pek ok canlya stnlk kurabilmifltir. Dili iyi kullanmak onu dahaetkin klar. Dili iyi kullanmak ise dil konusunda iyi bilgi sahibi olmay ve dil bilinci-ni gelifltirmeyi gerektirir. nsanolu'nun dil bilincini gelifltirebilecei ve canlandraca- ilk alan ise kendi dilidir. Bir baflka deyiflle, anadili. Neredeyse doduumuz gn-den itibaren duyduumuz, farkna bile varmadan edinip, kullandmz anadilimizikonuflabilmek iin, ne olduunu, nasl ifllendiini bilmeye gerek bile duymayz. Birflairin dedii gibi o bize ana st gibi helal verilmifl bir dldr. Ninnisiyle, masa-l ve kfr ile her an elimizin altndaki bu kymetli dln, armaann nedense hikymetini de bilmeyiz. Kt kullanmamzdan te, bir de hi merak etmeyiz. Nasl birdildir, ne zellii vardr diye. stelik bir de fakir dil, Trke'de her fley anlatla-maz gibi bilir bilmez konufluruz.

Yukarda szn ettiimiz trden yaklaflmlar ve nyarglar bizi yalnz kendi di-limiz konusunda deil genel anlamda dil olgusu konusunda da bilgisiz ve bilin-siz klyor. Bu durumda da bir yabanc dil renirken ikinci dilin yapsna, szckdaarcna sanki hi bir fley bilmezmifl gibi yaklaflyoruz. Trke'de kurulmayacakcmleleri ngilizce'de kurmaya kalkyoruz. Kendi dilimizi iyi gelifltiremediimiz iinde ikinci dilde anlatma zorluu ekiyoruz. Szmzn en baflnda dediimiz gibi iyibir ikinci dil kullanmann yolu iyi bir anadil bilgisi ve bilincinden geer.

Kitabmzda Trke Sz Dizinine ait drt nite var. Bu nitelerde dilimizin tm-ce yapsn inceleyeceksiniz. Anlambilim, Edimbilim ve Sylem zmlemesine aitdier blm ise size dilimizin farkl zelliklerini gsterecek. Dil kullanmmz an-lam, kullanm ve sylem boyutunda size tantmaya alflacak. Her niteyi sizlerin ko-layca anlayabilecei, sk sk kendinizi kontrol edebileceiniz flekilde dzenledik. Ya-ntlar da kendinizi snadktan sonra kontrol edebilirsiniz.

Sizleri bu kitab hazrlarken, yazdklarmzn anlafllabilirlii ve ieriin geerlilii-ni snamak iin rencilerimizden yardm istedik. Onlar zellikle Morphology veSyntax blmlerini dikkatle okuyarak bize yol gsterdiler. Ayflenur Dizkara, EbruEylem Gegil ve Yusuf Ylmaz'a sizler adna da burada teflekkr ediyoruz.

Bu kitabn hazrlanmas srasnda karikatrlerden birisini kullanmamza izin verenkarikatr sanats sayn Erdil Yaflaroluna flkranlarmz sunuyoruz.

Umarz bu dersin sonunda kendi dilimizle ilgili biraz daha bilgi ve bilin sahibi olur,dil bilincinizi gelifltirir, her iki dil iin de geerli dil kullanma becerilerinizi artrrsnz.

Hepinize baflarlar diliyorum.Editr

Prof.Dr. Zlal BALPINAR

indek i ler vii

In this unit we will try to seek answers to the following questions: What is syntax? What is grammar? What types of grammar do we know? What is the distinction between descriptive and prescriptive grammar? What does mental grammar mean? What is competence? What is performance? What is grammaticality? What is acceptability?

Contents

syntax grammar descriptive grammar prescriptive grammar mental grammar creativity Language Acquisition Device

Universal Grammar principles parameters competence performance grammaticality acceptability

Key Words

Aims

NNNNNNN

Turkish Syntax, Semantics,Pragmatics and Discourse

(Trke Tmce Bilgisi, Anlambilim,Edimbilim ve Sylem zmlemesi)

Syntax

INTRODUCTION SYNTAX GRAMMAR

1TURKISH SYNTAX, SEMANTICS, PRAGMATICS AND DISCOURSE(TRKE TMCE BLGS, ANLAMBLM, EDMBLM VE SYLEMZMLEMES)

INTRODUCTIONTurkish speakers know that a sentence like Ali iin geldim is grammatical.However, Ali geldim is not a good Turkish sentence. This is because there arerules that govern sentence structure. These rules are part of our native speakerknowledge. We acquire these rules during our very early ages when we hear ourlanguage in our household. Only human beings are capable of acquiring languages.People can make infinite number of sentences. All of these facts make syntacticanalysis very interesting.

Every language has a set of rules to form sentences. Syntax investigates sentenceformation rules. Surprisingly, languages show similarities in their sentenceformation rules, as well as differences. Linguists investigate similar and differentsentence formation rules in languages to write Universal Grammar.

Syntax is the study of the rules of sentence-level grammar and the structureinside the sentence. We shall discuss what grammar means in linguistics and howit differs from traditional grammar. We shall make a difference between descriptiveand prescriptive grammar. We shall also be concerned with how native speakerscan distinguish grammatical and ungrammatical sentences. We shall see that thereare cases where a sentence can be understood and accepted but it is ungrammatical.The opposite is also true. For example, akll mavi elbisem flark sylyor iscompletely grammatical. But do you think that a native speaker can accept it? Ifyou want to know the answer and be informed on syntax, start reading the chapter.

SYNTAXSyntax is the study of sentence structure as well the structure of phrases that makea sentence. The sentence is considered to be the longest structural unit of whichfull grammatical analysis is possible even though there are sub-fields of linguisticsthat investigate beyond the sentence level rules of language (pragmatics anddiscourse analysis). Thus, the domain of syntax is confined to the analysis ofsentence and its smaller components, such as clauses and phrases. As we shall seelater, sentences can consist of one or more clauses, clauses can consist of two ormore phrases, phrases consist of one or more words, and finally words consist ofone or more morphemes. Syntax investigates both how sentences are formed andinterpreted by speakers and hearers.

Syntax

GRAMMAR

Descriptive and Prescriptive Grammar For non-linguists, grammar pertains to a set of rules that prescribes what shouldbe said and how certain sounds, phrases or sentences should not be used. Forexample, dont use olan in a sentence as yarn gelecek olan arkadaflm zmirdeoturuyor. Yaln (1997:13) gives some prescriptive rules in his book as commonmistakes made in Turkish. He says: Dont say banyo, dufl, kahvalt, iki aldm; butsay iki itim, banyo yaptm, dufl yaptm, kahvalt yaptm, etc. These and othersuch rules try to explicate some of the standard and non-standard varieties of thelanguage as well as some rules made up by a language authority who thinks thatthe language should be used in a particular way. This type of normative grammarthat imposes correct language use is known as prescriptive grammar and itsfunction is to tell people what is good vs. bad language use. Most of the time theserules do not reflect the way in which language is actually used by native speakersand they fail to account for the real rules of the language.

In contrast to prescriptive grammars, descriptive grammars consist of accountsfor the real life language use. Descriptive grammar does not impose patterns of theso-called correct language rules. Unlike prescriptive grammar, descriptive grammaris not judgmental, it does not group the language produced by native speakers ascorrect or incorrect. In other words, it does not dictate that language should beused in a particular way. Descriptive grammar aims to explain the language exactlyas it is spoken or written by native speakers. A linguist is necessarily descriptive,but language teachers are prescriptive since they must teach the varieties of thelanguage that are spoken by well-educated speakers.

Read the following sentence (from Oya Adals book (2003: 79)):

Sinirleri bir hayli bozulmufl, ziyadesiyle zlmflt.

Adal suggests that the sentence above is not a good sentence of Turkish. Instead, shesuggests that the sentence should be used as in the following: Sinirleri bir hayli bozulmufl,kendisi ziyadesiyle zlmflt.

Adal says that the sentence above consists of two sentences. The subject of the first sentenceis the answer to the question bozulan ne?, sinirleri. The subject of the second sentenceis Kim zlmflt? She says that since the one who feels sad is not sinirleri, we shoulduse a subject in the second sentence. Answer the following questions about Adals remark:

I. Why do you think that Adal does not like the first sentence above? II. Is her approach descriptive or prescriptive? III. Would the syntactic analysis approach be different from Adals suggestion? IV. What would a teacher of Turkish say about this sentence?

Mental Grammar As the American linguist Noam Chomsky, as well as the German linguist Wilhelmvon Humboldt noted, any language consists of infinite number of sentences thatcan be created by speakers of that language. The number of vocabulary in alanguage is limited. We can find all words in a language in a dictionary; whereas,it is impossible to find a list of all possible sentences of a language. Language is

4 Turkish Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics and Discourse (Trke Tmce Bilgisi , Anlambil im, Edimbil im ve Sylem zmlemesi)

It is your turn!

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9 9It is your turn!

creative in this sense. This means that people can produce or understand sentencesthat they have never heard before. They can bring words together to form phrasesor sentences that they have never heard before. They can bring words together toform phrases or sentences that are completely new.

This creativity and the relative ease and rate of language acquisition have ledlinguists like Chomsky to believe that there is an independent biological device inthe human mind that is specifically reserved for language faculty. Formerly, thisdevice was coined as Language Acquisition Device (LAD) by Chomsky, laterrenamed as Universal Grammar (UG). Universal Grammar postulates that thelanguage faculty in the human mind is biologically pre-programmed with thecommon properties and constraints of human languages. Human languages havea great deal in common, which enables us to translate ideas from one language toanother. They also have differences. The Universal Grammar approach claims thathuman beings are inherently endowed with a universal set of principles andparameters which limit the possible structures in a particular language and whichallows all languages to be similar in some respects. Principles are thoseabstractions that do not vary across languages. No principle can be violated in anyhuman language. For example, all human languages are structure-dependent.This means that every human language is systematic at every level, including thelevels of phrase and sentence structure. We do not obtain phrases or sentencesmerely by putting words in a random order. Rather, there are some underlyingrules that govern sentence structure. So, all sentences in any language are formedand understood based on rules. No sentence can be formed without any systematicunderlying rules.

Furthermore, all human languages exhibit the property of recursion. Thismeans that it is possible for one sentence to contain other clause(s). A clause is agrammatical unit that has a subject and a verb. For example, the simple sentencein (1) forms part of the complex sentence in (2), and the resulting sentence canform part of a still more complex sentence. Recursive embedding is shown in (5)up to a level of five embeddings.

1. Ali gitti.

2. Ahmet Alinin gittiini syledi.

3. Can bana Ahmetin Alinin gittiini sylediini haber verdi.

4. Okulda karfllafltm Can bana Ahmetin Alinin gittiini sylediini haber verdi.

5. Dn gittiim okulda karfllafltm Can bana Ahmetin Alinin gittiinisylediini haber verdi.

The property of recursion of clauses is also known as the Embedding Principleof human languages.

There are also variations in human language, which are known as parameters.For example, while Turkish is a verb-final language, English has Subject-Verb-Object order. While all English tensed clauses must have an overt subject, we candrop subjects in Turkish sentences. These types of possibilities constituteparameters.

5Unit 1 - Syntax

Since the human brain is not a blank slate, but it is biologically pre-programmedincluding these principles and parameters of Universal Grammar, most theories ofsyntax aim at investigating the mental grammar. More specifically, the aim oflinguistic research is to seek answers to questions such as:

a) What constitutes knowledge of language? b) How is knowledge of language acquired? c) How is this knowledge put into use? Even though native speakers speak and write their language perfectly well, the

linguistic knowledge of native language is usually taken for granted. Everybodyhas some assumptions about language and the structure of language is assumed tobe transparent for native speakers. However, this knowledge is implicit andsubconscious. Thus, native speakers have subconscious mental representations oflanguage which underlie language use. Linguistic theory aims to describe themental representations of language which are stored in the human mind. Thenotion of Universal Grammar, therefore, is a term of grammar that investigates thecognitive system of language in the human mind. Human beings are special interms of their capacity for language; no other species owns language faculty assuch. Thus, there must be some specific property of human mind which can beilluminated through analysis of language.

Answer the following questions. I. Turkish sentences have an order of Subject-Object-Verb, while English sentences

are ordered as Subject-Verb-Object. What would Universal Grammar say about thistype of variation across languages?

II. In Turkish we can use sentences with null subjects, as Gittiini grdm. Whatwould Universal Grammar say about this?

Competence and Performance As has been stated above, linguists investigate what native speakers actually dorather than what a rule-maker says what native speakers should do. Linguists tryto understand how mental grammar works. In order to achieve their goal, theyinvestigate the actual data as it is spoken or written by native speakers, and theyask judgments of native speakers on some made-up sentences. Native speakershave unconscious knowledge of the rules of their native language in their minds.This is known as grammatical competence. Competence is the knowledge of anative speaker about the rules of his/her native language in an ideal community,under ideal circumstances. Competence includes the knowledge of both formingphrases and sentences as well as native speaker intuitions about the grammaticalityor ungrammaticality of sentences. Native speaker intuitions are thus part of theircompetence.

This notion is in contrast with performance, which includes the production ofa speakers native language. Very often performance is an imperfect reflection ofcompetence. For example, people can have slips of the tongue in every dayspeech, they may have false starts; they may not complete their sentences becausethey may be tired or bored. All these are called performance errors. Thus, nativespeaker mistakes cannot be attributed to lack of knowledge of linguistic rules butto other performance factors we gave above, such fatigue, boredom, etc.


It is your turn!

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Syntax is primarily concerned with the native speakers competence, i.e. whatone needs to know in order to be a fluent speaker of that language in terms ofsentence structure. As a result, syntax investigates what native speakers implicitlyknow about sentence grammar of their language. So, in a way it can be consideredas a study on a part of cognition.

Answer the following questions. I. What is the difference between competence and performance? II. Is syntactic analysis mainly concerned with competence or performance? Why?

Grammaticality vs. Acceptability We have stated above that descriptive grammar does not make judgments aboutthe correct use of language. This should not be confused with grammaticalityjudgments of native speakers. Grammaticality is a descriptive term, whilecorrectness is a prescriptive term. Native speakers of Turkish can recognizeungrammatical and grammatical sentences, such as:

6. *Geldi grdm Ali ben.

7. Ben Alinin geldiini grdm.

The sentence in (6) is an ungrammatical, or a syntactically ill-formed, sentence;while, (7) is grammatical. A grammatical, or well-formed, sentence means asentence which can possibly be produced spontaneously by a native speaker inthe appropriate context. It is a convention to mark an ungrammatical sentencewith an asterisk (*) in the linguistics literature. As far as the structure of sentencesis concerned, we have to account for grammaticality as well as ungrammaticalityin order to explain how ungrammatical sentences are differentiated fromgrammatical sentences. Native speakers can recognize ungrammatical andgrammatical sentences of their language. Since, as we stated above, linguisticresearch, including syntax, aims at investigating this mental knowledge of grammarof a native speaker, both grammaticality and ungrammaticality should be explained.Grammatical analysis must provide a set of well-formedness conditions and shoulddistinguish them from ill-formed sentences. A very important notion of syntacticendeavor is descriptive adequacy. Linguists achieve descriptive adequacywhen they can accurately describe a syntactic rule and when their rule does notovergenerate, namely when the rule does not generate ungrammatical sentences.Thus, explicit rules posited by syntax must be able to reflect the native speakersmental model about producing those grammatical sentences. It should be able totell that certain sentences are grammatical, while others are not, it should explainsome sentences are ambiguous (they have more than one meaning,), etc.

There are cases where sentences can be grammatical but strange, as we shallsee below. Consider the following sentences:

8. Ben balmn yemini yemediini grdm. 9. Ben kardeflimin geldiini grdm. 10. Ben balmn geldiini grdm.

The sentences in (8) and (9) are completely grammatical and acceptable.However, most Turkish speakers would think that a sentence like (10) is somewhat

7Unit 1 - Syntax

It is your turn!

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10It is your turn!

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It is your turn!


It is your turn!


weird. There does not seem to be a problem with the structure of the sentence,because (10) is exactly like (9), except for the fact that one word is different in(10), i.e. balmn, which is a noun like the word in (9) kardeflimin. The problemhere is not a structural problem. Nevertheless, we tend to reject the sentencebased on our world knowledge. We know that under normal circumstances (e.g.except for in novels, stories, etc.) fish cannot walk. We can say that (10) isgrammatical and yet it is not acceptable. Now consider (11):

11. *Ben balmn yemini yemedi grdm.

Sentence (11) is ungrammatical. It may be produced by a tired native speaker.Still, hearers can interpret this sentence in terms of meaning. So, it can beacceptable, although it is ungrammatical.

Therefore, as we have separated the notion of grammaticality from that ofcorrectness, we have to make a distinction between the terms of grammaticalityand acceptability. Syntax is primarily concerned with whether words are properlycombined to form a sentence rather than whether the sentence is meaningful,weird, or logical. Sentence (10) above thus shows a sentence in which words areproperly put to form a grammatical sentence, but the result is semantically odd.This shows that syntax is autonomous, it has an independent status apart frommeaning.

Our aim in the following chapters on syntax is to make the reader aware of thestructure of Turkish. Such awareness is of crucial importance for language teachersand any language professional, such as translators, textbook writers, etc. Thisknowledge will provide a systematic frame of reference for the language teacherto relate details to one another within a systematic whole, which would otherwiseremain obscure and unrelated.

Answer the following questions. Discuss whether the following sentences are grammatical, acceptable, and correct or not.

I. Ahmet yaflayan bir ldr. II. Bu flekilde befl kfleli bir gen grnmektedir. III. Sana 1.85 cm. boyunda olman emrediyorum. IV. Dn akflam sinemaya gideceiz. V. Duymadm ben Muratn geldi dn.


It is your turn!

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9Unit 1 - Syntax

In this unit, we have seen that syntax investigates thestructure of sentences and their component units. Theaim of syntactic analysis is to write rules to specify, orgenerate, all and only grammatical sentences in alanguage, while excluding those that areungrammatical. We can define grammar as a set of rulesin a language that describes phonological,morphological, and syntactic regularities.

We have seen that syntactic investigation is notprescriptive. This means that it does not provide anyrules that should be obeyed by speakers. Therefore,syntactic analysis, like all levels of linguistic analysis, isdescriptive. Syntax describes how language isstructured, rather than imposing correct language use.

We have also seen that since language is specifically ahuman property, language analysis will shed light onhow the human mind works. Thus, syntactic analysiscan be considered as a study of human cognitiveabilities. The human mind consists of a faculty which isspecific for language. All native speakers have implicitknowledge of the grammatical rules of their nativelanguage. This knowledge is known as competence.Competence is in contrast with performance, which isdefined as the manifestation of language in actual use.

In syntax, we analyze grammatical sentences and wetry to write rules that can only generate grammaticalsentences. Since we do not want our rules to generateungrammatical sentences, we also compare and contrastungrammatical sentences with grammatical sentences.So, ungrammaticality is a notion that concerns us aswell as grammaticality. We have also seen that somesentences can simply be weird even if they aregrammatical. This is a difference that we explained bythe notion of acceptability vs. unacceptability.

Summary


1. Consider the following: It is not correct to use neden and iin together in asentence as ok alflmamm nedeni snav gemek iin. One would expect to find such a statement in:

a. Descriptive grammarb. Prescriptive grammar c. Mental grammar d. Competencee. Grammaticality

2. Descriptive grammar:a. is judgmental b. does not make a distinction between correct and

incorrect language use. c. describes only the use of the language of highly

educated people. d. states that we should always make grammatical

sentences. e. sets some norms.

3. Language is creative because: a. The number of sentences in a language is

limited. b. Speakers can make sentences that they have

never heard before. c. Speakers can create new words. d. There are many rules in a language. e. Speakers can create new rules in their native

language.

4. Universal Grammar: a. investigates some inborn and unconscious

knowledge about what can constitute a humanlanguage.

b. includes descriptive and prescriptive grammar.c. informs us that not all languages are alike. d. informs us that some languages do not have any

rules. e. informs us that there are no differences in human

languages.

5. Which one of the following is an example ofrecursion?

a. Ben bunu yapmadm. b. Nuri her gn salata yer. c. Canan Aliye olay anlatt. d. Ben senin ne yaptn bilmiyorum. e. Her akflam iki saat boyunca kitap okur.

6. Which one of the following is NOT correct aboutsyntax?

a. It is the study of sentence structure b. It is the study of rules of a language beyond

sentence. c. It investigates how sentences are made. d. It investigates how sentences are understood. e. It investigates smaller units of sentences.

7. Competence: a. is what a native speaker knows about the

grammatical rules of his/her language. b. is what a native speaker knows when s/he learns

a foreign language.c. is full of hesitations and other imperfections. d. is not abstract. e. includes a speakers knowledge about the world

in general.

8. Consider the following:Some native speakers of Turkish inform us that bothkzn ylan sokan adam dn geldi and kzn ylannsoktuu adam dn geldi are sentences that can be usedin the language. In the former case ylan is indefinite;while in the latter it is definite, a certain snake that isknown by the speaker and hearer. This type of analysis is an example of:

a. Descriptive grammar b. Prescriptive grammar c. Universal Grammar d. Acceptability e. Grammaticality

9. Competence of a native speaker does NOT include: a. hesitations, false starts, etc. in spoken language.b. unconscious knowledge about the rules of

grammar.c. intuitions about ungrammatical sentencesd. interpretation of sentencese. knowledge about forming phrases.

10. What can we say about the following sentence?

nsanlar krmz sevgi denizinde boulmufllar.

a. It is grammatical but unacceptable. b. It is grammatical and acceptable. c. It is illogical. d. It is ungrammatical but acceptable. e. It is ungrammatical and unacceptable.

Self-test

11Unit 1 - Syntax

Read the following and try to answer whether it has adescriptive or prescriptive approach.

Herkesin yapt, yanlfl olur mu?Radikal 2 10 Temmuz 1999NECMYE ALPAYTrke sz konusu olduunda, bilimsel disiplin gereikesinleyici dil kullanmaktan kanmas beklenebilecekkifliler bile kolayca yanlfl/doru hkm verebiliyor.Tank olduum ilk rnek kendi kalemimden kmflt.Sonuncusu, Emre Kongarn 3.6.1999 tarihli Cumhuriyetgazetesindeki En ok Yaplan Yanlfllar bafllkl yazs.lk rnek dediim yazm on yl nce, Metis eviri dergisi-nin dokuzuncu saysnda yaymlanmflt. Konu, kt evi-rilerin ve ngilizcenin Trke stndeki olumsuz etkilerin-den kaynaklandn dflndm sorunlar, pardon, yan-lfllard. Anlamfl olduunuz zere, o yazda ben de oukifli gibi dil yanlfl szn byk bir rahatlkla, bol bula-ma kullanyor, kendime gre doru olan belirli bir kulla-nma aykr grdm her rnei yanlfl buluyordum. Ku-ralc dilbilgisi yandafl saylacam aklma bile gelmemiflti.Bu yndeki bilimsel elefltiri, Boazii niversitesinden,Ifln Bengiden geldi. Bengi, Dilbilim Arafltrmalar adl ni-versiteleraras ylln 1993 saysnda (Hitit Yay., Ankara),benimki de iinde olmak zere Metis eviri dergisindekmfl yazlardan bazlarn elefltirel bilin asndan eldengeiriyordu. Benginin yazsn ilk okuduumda tatsz bir duyguyakapldm anmsyorum. Ne demifller, elefltiri ikolatadeil ki aza tat versin. [...]Dolaysyla, Ifln Benginin yazsn bir gzel unutmu-flum. Buna karfllk, yazdan yararlanmaktan geri dur-mayp Trke konusunda kolay kolay yanlfl/dorudiyemez olmuflum. Sonradan fark ettim.Kuralc teriminin aklamasn, Berke Vardar yneti-minde hazrlanmfl Dilbilim Terimleri Szlnden ala-lm: Gerekten kullanlan olgular ortaya koymaya a-lflan betimsel dilbilime karflt olarak, bir dilde zorunluolarak ortaya kan yeni biimleri, lksel ve donmuflbir rnek uruna yadsyan, iyi kullanm, gzel kulla-nm, yanlfl diye nitelendirilen biimlere karfl savu-nan, sorunlar yanlfl-doru karfltl iinde ele alan ge-leneksel dilbilgisini nitelemek iin kullanlr. Dilbilgi-sinde kuralc tutum, bilimsel anlayflla eliflir.Benzer bir tanm iin, Nurettin Koun Dilbilgisi Terim-leri Szlne de baklabilir.Denebilir ki bizler iflin bilimini yapmyor, uygulamasnabakyoruz. Ancak, byle olmas iflin bilimini gznndetutmay engellemedii gibi, gerekli de klyor. Bilim herzaman doru sylediinden deil. (Kuralclk da bilim-dendi). Birincisi, insann ufkunu geniflletip dflnme, bilerekkonuflma olana verdiinden. kincisi, dilbilim yazla-

rnda, kesinleyici dil de iinde, elefltirilecek pek okTrke uygulama sorunu bulunduundan!Kongarn sz konusu yazsndaki bu yanlfl da hemenhemen herkes yapyor belirtimi, aka kuralc dilbilgi-sinden yana grnyor. fiu var ki Kongarn, bu belirti-minde kuralc / betimlemeci ayrmn dikkate aldnpek sanmyorum: Almfl olsa bunu zel olarak belirtir-di. Yukarda da dediim gibi, dile dikkat eden ouokuryazarda grlen bir eilim olarak, belirli kullanm-lar, ok da tanmlanmamfl, en azndan gelifltirilmemiflbir doruya gre yanlfl buluyor. Bu, izlenimsel elefl-tiri diyebileceimiz, benim yazdklarm da kapsayanbir elefltiri/deerlendirme trnn kolayca dflebilece-i bir tuzak, ama kanlmaz deil, gibi geliyor bana.Kongarn hemen hemen herkes tarafndan yaplyorderken kastettii yanlfl merak edilmifl olabilir. Arapaoul ekine bir de Trke oul eki eklenmesinden szediyor: mcevheratlar, icraatlar gibi. Bylece, yaygnla-flan gereksiz anlamsal yinelemelerden birine iflaret et-mifl oluyor. Yine de bu yaygnlaflmann nedenleri ara-snda, Trkenin bir huyu bulunuyor olamaz m? Za-man iinde ouldan oula fark oluflturmak istiyordurbelki... Ya da, sz konusu szcklere zaman iinde te-killik kazandracaktr. Szgelimi, icraat szcnn te-kiline pek rastlanmaz oldu... Akas, aykrlklara ifla-ret edilirken, cahillikten ve ukalalktan baflka ne-denleri de olabilecei dflnlse demeye alflyorum.Kongar sz konusu yazsnda yle yapmyor. Sraladyanlfllardan biri de ne... ne... balacndan sonra cm-lenin olumsuz fiille bitirilmesi. Ancak, bu fikri, yerleflikbir kuraldan sz edercesine, gerekelendirmeden dilegetiriyor. Oysa Memet Fuatn Cumhuriyetteki kflesin-de de (21.1.1995 ve 8.2.1995) uzun uzun ele almfl ol-duu zere, tartflmal bir nokta bu. Uygulamada iki tr-lsne de rastlanyor. (Yeri gelmiflken bu konuda Kon-garn seimine katldm belirtmeliyim. Ne... ne...balacndan sonra fiil de olumsuz yaplrsa anlamsal yi-neleme douyor; olumsuzluk, gereksiz yere yinelenmifloluyor.)Herkesin yapt yanlfltan sz etmek belki daha ok,bilimsel disiplini baflka alanlarda edinmifl olanlarn ba-flna geliyordur: Bilindii gibi, pek ok alanda, herkesinyapt yanlfl, yanlfl olmaktan kmyor. Dil alanndaise bir adm sonra, galatmeflhur nitelemesiyle de olsabnyeye yerleflip, gze batmaz oluyor.Kongarn ele aldm yazsnda bir ktleflme bulduu-mu sylemek zorundaym. Tam bir yl nce ayn stun-larda yazd birka yaz, karfllafltrlmaz lde iyiydi.11.6.1998 tarihli olanna, oul eki konusundaki (t-myle katldm) grfln kimsede rastlamadm birnetlik ve incelikle gerekelendiriyordu. stelik, dildebu budur demek zor anlayfln savunarak.

Turkish Alive


Adal, Oya/(2003) Anlamak ve Anlatmak. PanYaynlar, stanbul.

Radford, Andrew (1997) Syntax: A MinimalistIntroduction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Yaln, fiiar. (1997) Doru Trke. Metis Yaynlar,stanbul.

http://www.lsadc.org/web2/fldfr.htm Linguistic Societyof America What is Correct Language?

I. Adal says that a sentence such as Sinirleri birhayli bozulmufl, ziyadesiyle zlmflt is notcorrect, because there are two clauses here, asfollows: a. Sinirleri bozulmufltu.

b. Ziyadesiyle zlmflt.

In (a) the subject is sinirleri and in (b) the subjectis the person who is being talked about. Sincethe subjects are different, Adal suggests that weshould express both subjects.

II. Adals approach is prescriptive because sheprescribes how the sentence should be used. Adescriptive approach would only describe thesentence as it is used.

III. Syntactic analysis would suggest that nativespeakers can use null subjects and that Turkishallows subject drop.

IV. A Turkish teacher can be prescriptive and s/hemight state the same rule as Adal.

I. Turkish has Subject-Object-Verb order, butEnglish has Subject-Verb-Object order. This is avariation and it is considered to be a parameterof Universal Grammar.

II. In Turkish, while a sentence such as Gittiinigrdm is grammatical, in English saw is gone isnot. This is a difference across languages. Somelanguages allow subject drop; others like Englishdo not. Snice this is also a difference, it is knownas parameter. This is known as pro-drop or null-subject parameter.

References Key to It is your turn! It is your turn!

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13Unit 1 - Syntax

I. Competence is the subconscious knowledge ofa native speaker about the rules of his/herlanguage. Performance is the language that isused by the native speaker. Thus, competenceis abstract because it cannot be directly seen orheard, but it can be tested by asking thespeakers intuitions on sentence grammaticality.Performance, on the other hand, is concretebecause we can hear and tape record what aspeaker says or we can read what a writer haswritten.

II. Syntax is mainly concerned with the analysis ofsentence formation rules in the cognition ofnative speakers. Linguists who are involved insyntactic analysis ask native speaker judgmentsin order to understand the rules they have as apart of their competence. Syntax is notconcerned with performance errors, such as slipsof the tongue or incomplete sentences that areproduced under stress or fatigue, etc.

I. Ahmet yaflayan bir ldr.This sentence is grammatical. However, it is notacceptable because being alive and dead at thesame time is a contradiction. We can interpretthe sentence as a metaphor only. This isgrammatcal, but unacceptable under normalcircumstances.

II. Bu flekilde befl kfleli bir gen grnmektedir.This sentence is grammatical; yet it isunacceptable since gen has only three sides,not five. This contradicts with our worldknowledge.

III. *Sana 1.85 boyunda olman emrediyorum.This sentence can be considered asungrammatical, because one cannot ordersomeone to do something that is beyond hiscontrol. To be tall is not our choice, so we cannotbe tall or short with our own will. As a result,emretmek is incompatible with an involuntaryverb, such as being tall.

IV. *Dn akflam yemee gideceiz.This sentence is ungrammatical because the timeadverb shows past; while the morpheme. -EcEkat the verb stem indicates future.

V. *Duymadm ben Murat geldi dn.This sentence is ungrammatical because thewords are not in the correct order and the verbin the embedded clause does not have thecorrect morphemes, such as geldiini.

It is your turn!

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In this unit we will try to seek answers to the following questions: What is a constituent?How do we represent constituents? How are constituents organized? What relationships do the members of a constituent have?What tests do we use to check constituency?

Contents

constituents nodes binary branching heads

immediate constituents ultimate constituents modifiers complements

Key Words

Aims

NNNNN

INTRODUCTION CONSTITUENTS

2TURKISH SYNTAX, SEMANTICS, PRAGMATICS AND DISCOURSE(TRKE TMCE BLGS, ANLAMBLM, EDMBLM VE SYLEMZMLEMES)

The Internal Structureof Syntactic Categories:Constituents

Turkish Syntax, Semantics,Pragmatics and Discourse

(Trke Tmce Bilgisi, Anlambilim,Edimbilim ve Sylem zmlemesi)

INTRODUCTIONAll languages have systematic patterns. Sentences are formed based on rules.Likewise, smaller units in sentences have rules. We cannot imagine a sentence orany structural unit without patterns. This unit focuses on the rules govern theseinternal structural units in Turkish. We shall also see how we represent these rulesin syntactic analysis.

As we know, syntax investigates the internal structure of syntactic categories,such as phrases and sentences. Phrases consist of words; and sentences consist ofphrases. In other words, larger syntactic categories consist of constituents. Aconstituent is a structural unit i.e. an expression which is one of the componentsof a phrase or sentence is built up. (Radford 1997:256). We shall see examples ofconstituents below, as well as their representations in syntax, their hierarchicalorganization, and their relationships with other constituents

CONSTITUENTS In order to understand the notion of constituent, consider an example like en baflarlrenci: The category en baflarl is composed of the constituents en and baflarl.Since there is no intermediate unit of which en and baflarl that is itself a constituentof the category en baflarl; en and baflarl are not only constituents but also theyare immediate constituents of the category. Similarly, en baflarl renci is composedof three words all of which constitute a category together. However, not all of themare immediate constituents of this category. The words en and baflarl combineto make the intermediate category en baflarl; and then this intermediate categorycombines with renci to form the larger category en baflarl renci. Modernlinguists represent these categories using tree diagrams as in the following:

The Internal Structure ofSyntactic Categories:

Constituents

In Figure: 2.1 the lines in the tree diagram are its branches. The points of thebranches, which are labeled with capital letters, like A, B, C, etc. are nodes. Thelabels represent the type of the constituent, which we shall discuss later. (A) is themother node; (B) and (C) are daughters of (A); and they are sisters of eachother. Likewise, (B) is the mother node of (D) and (E), which are sisters. Sisterconstituents are at the same level of structure in organization. In general,constituents have functions in respect to their sisters. Nodes (C), (D), and (E) areterminal nodes because there are no other branches that derive from thesenodes. The words in the terminal nodes are the ultimate constituents becausethey cannot be divided into any further constituents. Mother nodes immediatelydominate their daughters. For example, (A) immediately dominates (B) and (C); so(B) and (C) are immediate constituents of (A). This is because there is no otherintervening constituent between the mother node and the immediate constituents.

We see that there are two branches at both levels in the tree diagram above.Thus, this tree diagram shows that the constituent structure of the category has ahierarchical organization, which starts from the smallest words which it includesinto layers of successively larger categories. It appears that syntactic categories arenot merely sequence of words. Rather, they are structural units that can be analyzedinto immediate constituents and then each of these categories can be divided intotheir own immediate constituents, and so on. What happens if we have a tree withthree branches that derive from the same mother node, as in the following?

In the tree diagram in Figure 2.2, we have a flat structure as opposed to ahierarchical structure. This is because it has three branches deriving from the samemother node. Thus, (B), (C), and (D) are sisters. This shows that all constituents


Figure 2.1

A

CB

en baflarl renci

ED

en baflarl

A

CB

en baflarl renci

renciD

en baflarl

Figure 2.2

are supposedly at the same level. In this case, we have no node where we couldseparate en baflarl as a constituent to substitute it with a word such as hangi ifwe want to ask a question such as hangi renci? This substitution test, as weshall see in further detail later, shows that we need a separate node for theconstituent en baflarl. Furthermore, both en and baflarl do not both modifyrenci; but rather firstly en modifies baflarl; and then en baflarl modifiesrenci. We can see that *en renci is not a possible constituent. Therefore, enbaflarl should apparently form a separate syntactic unit than renci and thisseparate constituent should be represented in a separate node in the tree diagram.Since flat structure trees fail to represent facts about syntactic categories andconstituent structure, we use binary branching trees as shown in Figure: 2.1. Abinary-branching tree is a tree diagram in which there are two branches atevery level of representation. Each node represents a constituent. In most cases atree diagram with three or more sisters is not a legitimate way of representing theconstituent structure in Turkish. (But see section on Coordination) We concludethat Turkish constituents have hierarchical structures. Therefore, we reject a flatstructure tree diagram as in Figure: 2.2 in order to represent Turkish constituents.

Now, let us investigate the structure of the following sentence.

1. En baflarl renci yarflmay kazanr.

At this point, let us assume that en baflarl renci and yarflmay kazanr aretwo immediate constituents of the sentence. (We will see the reasons for this inthe next unit). These constituents can further be divided into smaller constituents,as en baflarl, renci, yarflmay, and kazanr. The constituent structure isrepresented in Figure: 2.3.

The constituent structure can also be shown using square brackets as in thefollowing:

2. [H en] [I baflarl] [E renci] [F yarflmay] [G kazanr]

17Unit 2 - The Internal Structure of Syntact ic Categor ies : Const i tuents

A

CB

en baflarl renci yarflmay kazanr

ED

en baflarl renci

Figure 2.3

GF

yarflmay kazanr

IH

en baflarl

The representation in (2) provides ultimate constitutes, but higher constituentscan also be presented by using square brackets, as well:

3. [[A[B[en] baflarl] renci]] [C [yarflmay] kazanr]]]The representation in square brackets given above in (3) is equivalent to the

tree diagram in Figure: 2.3. Linguists use both tree diagrams and square bracketingto represent constituent structures. Radford (1997: 254) states that Bracketing is atechnique [used] for representing the categorical status of expressions, wherebythe expression is enclosed in square brackets, and the left -hand bracket is labeledwith the appropriate category symbol. The information given in a tree diagramand square bracket techniques provide the same type of information. The differenceis that tree diagrams can be easier to read because the information provided is notas condensed as in the brackets.

Answer the following questions: Consider the tree diagram given below:

I Which one of the following square bracket representations is identical with the treediagram above?a. [A [B Ali][C [D Ayfleyi] [E seviyor]]]b. [A [B Ali ] [D Ayfleyi[E seviyor]]]

II Why? Explain.III What are the immediate constituents in the tree diagram? A, B, C, D, or E? IV What are the ultimate constituents? V How many sisters are there in the tree diagram? What are they?

VI Which constituents can the following question words replace? Kim, kimi, and neyapyor?

VII Draw the tree diagram of the following sentence: Sar sal kz okula gitti.

Relationships Between the Members of a ConstituentWe have stated above that the relationships between constituents can bedetermined in relation to their sisters. In this section, we will see two types ofrelationship between the sisters of a constituent:


A

CB

Ali Ayfleyi seviyor

Ali Ayfleyi seviyor

ED

Ayfleyi seviyor

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Modifier-Head: Head is the central word in a constituent. A constituent witha head is called a phrase. Modifiers modify the head, they express some qualityor aspect of the head. Modifiers are adjectives, adverbs, relative clauses, andadverbials. Modifiers are also known as adjuncts. Adjectives and relative clausesmodify nouns, adverbs and adverbials basically modify verbs, adjectives, andother adverbs. Modifiers are optional, i.e. they may or may not appear in phrases.If they are omitted, the result will not be ungrammatical, as in the followingexamples:

4. Yeflil elbise elbise 5. Koyu yeflil yeflil6. Hzl kofluyor kofluyor 7. ok gzel gzel

In the examples above, yeflil in (4), koyu in (5), hzl in (6), and ok in (7) aremodifiers.

The sisters in the following tree diagrams all show modifier-head relationships:


A

CBModifier of C

Koyu yeflilHead of B

elbise

DC

Modifier of Dkoyu

Head of Cyeflil

Figure 2.4

Modifieryeflil

Headelbise

ModifierHzl

Headkofluyor

Modifierok

HeadGzel

A

CB

A

B C

A

B C

Complement-Head The second relationship between the sister constituentsis that of complement-head relationship. While modifiers are optional,complements are obligatory. In a way, the head governs a complement, and thecomplement completes the head. For example, postpositions like gre and iinassign case to their complements. Furthermore, these postpositions cannot standon their own, they need to be completed by some complements and they assigncase to their objects.

Likewise, transitive verbs require objects to become complete constituents, andthey assign case to their objects. Objects are complements of transitive verbs. Thefollowing examples show that heads cannot stand without their complements:

8. ocuklarm iin - *iin 9. Ahmete gre - *gre 10. Yemeini yedi - *yedi 11. Yaflar Kemal hayran - *hayran

Complement-head relationships are also represented as sisters in the treediagrams, as shown in the following examples:


Complementocuklarm

Headiin

Figure 2.5

A

B C

ComplementAhmete

Headgre

A

B C

ComplementYemeini

Headyedi

A

B C

ComplementYaflar Kemal

Headhayran

A

B C

To sum up, the differences between modifiers and complements are thefollowing:

Syntactically, a modifier (adjunct) is an optional element, while acomplement is an obligatory element. That means that a modifier can beomitted, but a complement cannot.

Semantically, a modifier modifies the meaning of its head, while acomplement completes the meaning of its head.

There can be more than one modifier but there is usually only onecomplement.

Which one of the following constituents are in the complement-head and modifier-headrelationship? Why? a. kitab yazmak b. mavi duvarc. gzel iekd. bilimsellik urunae. yeni proje

Tests for Constituency Not all groups of word form constituents. Remember we have already discussedthe following sentence:

12. En baflarl renci yarflmay kazanr.

Remember that Figure: 2.3 is a tree diagram representation of this sentence. Weobserve that en is a constituent; en baflarl is a constituent, en baflarl renci isalso a constituent, etc. However, en renci does not form a constituent. This isbecause en modifies baflarl, but not renci. Furthermore, as reflected in Figure:2.3, en baflarl renci yarflmay are words that do not belong together. Thus,they do not form a constituent, either.

How can we make a distinction between constituents and non-constituents? There are certain tests that we can use in order to understand whether a set of

words form a constituent or not.

Substitution TestOnly constituents can be substituted by other words or constituents. Each of thephrases represented in the nodes in Figure: 2.3 can be replaced with some otherwords or word combinations. For example, in the case of each constituent, thereis a question word which can replace it, as shown in (13) (16) below:

13. Kim yarflmay kazanr? 14. Hangi renci yarflmay kazanr? 15. En baflarl renci ne yapar? 16. En baflarl renci neyi kazanr?

As you see in (13) (16), the constituents en baflarl renci, en baflarl,yarflmay kazanr, and yarflmay, are questioned, respectively. Constituents canbe replaced by other words such as question words. Note that each of thesequestion words can find a node for substitution. On the other hand, there is no


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way in which you can use a question word for en iyi renci yarflmay, andrenci yarflmay, because these words do not form constituents. As you can alsoobserve in Figure: 2.3, there is no node for any word which can substitute wordgroups, such as renci yarflmay.

Another example is illustrated in the tree diagram below:

17.Nuriye yeflil elbisesini giydi.

The tree diagram above illustrates our claim schematically. All of the constituentsrepresented by each node can be substituted by the question words given in boldcharacters. Thus, the following are constituents: Nuriye, yeflil elbisesini giydi, yeflilelbisesini, yeflil, elbisesini, and giydi. However, Nuriye and yeflil do not form aconstituent. This is verified by the fact that there is no word or word group thatcan substitute Nuriye yeflil.

Furthermore, we can replace some constituents by pronouns. Both Nuriye andyeflil elbisesini in the sentence can be replaced by pronouns, such as o and bunu,respectively:

18.O yeflil elbisesini giydi. 19.Nuriye bunu giydi.

I Is Nuriye elbisesini a constituent? II Why ? Why not ? Explain.

Deletion TestOnly full constituents can be deleted in a sentence. For example:

20. Yeflil elbisesini giydi.21. Nuriye giydi. (As an answer to the question Kim yeflil elbisesini giydi?)


NE YAPTIKM

Nuriye yeflil elbisesini giydi

giydiyeflil elbisesini

NEY NE YAPTI

elbisesiniyeflil

HANG NESN

Nuriye yeflil elbisesini giydi

NE OLDU

Figure 2.6

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Note that Nuriye and yeflil elbisesini giydi are deleted in (20) and (21),respectively, and they are both grammatical.

MoveabilityWe can move only the whole constituent; we cannot separate its parts:

22. Yeflil elbisesini giydi Nuriye. 23. *Yeflil giydi Nuriye elbisesini. 24. *Elbisesini yeflil Nuriye giydi.

We can move Nuriye at the end of the sentence because it is a constituent.However, as you see, sentences in (23) and (24) are ungrammatical because theirinternal structures are destroyed by separating phrasal constituents from theirsmaller parts.

I Try to account for the grammaticality or ungrammaticality of the following sentencesbased on the constituency tests:

a. Yeni bilgisayarn ofisindeki masann zerine kurdu. b. Mehmet yeni bilgisayarn kurdu. c. Mehmet ofisindeki masann zerine kurdu. (as an answer to Yeni bilgisayar nerede?) d. *Mehmet yeni kurdu. e. *Mehmet yeni bilgisayarn zerine kurdu.


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A constituent is a word or a group of words that belongtogether. Constituent structure of syntactic categoriescan be represented by tree diagrams or square bracketnotation. Constituents are organized hierarchicallyrather than in a flat structure. Linguists, therefore,represent constituent structure with binary branchingtree diagrams.

Members of a constituent can be in modifier-head andcomplement-head relationship. Modifiers are optional,and hence they can be omitted; but complements areobligatory members, so they cannot be omitted.Therefore, complements cannot be taken out of aconstituent, while modifiers can.

We use constituency tests to check whether a group ofwords forms a constituent or not. These tests includesubstitution, deletion, and moveability tests.

Summary


Answer questions (1)-(6) based on the following treediagram:

1. Which is the mother node of B and C? a. Ab. D and Ec. Bd. Ge. I

2. Which of the following are not sisters? a. B and Cb. D and E c. E and F d. F and G e. H and I

3. What is the relationship between fikirlerini andanlatt.

a. modifier- headb. complement-headc. modifier-complement d. head-heade. immediate constituent

4. What are the immediate constituents of C? a. A and B b. B and C c. D and E d. F and G e. H and I

5. Which node can the question word neredesubstitute?

a. Bb. Cc. Dd. Ee. F

6. How would you define the word toplantda? a. It is a modifier b. It is a complement. c. It is not an adjunct. d. It is not a constituent. e. None of the above.

7. Which one of the following word groups can NOTform a constituent in the following sentence?

Gen adam deniz kenarnda oluyla oynuyordu.a. gen adam b. deniz kenarnda oluyla c. deniz kenarnda d. oluyla oynuyordu. e. deniz kenarnda oluyla oynuyordu

8. Which nodes are in modifier-head relationship inthe following tree diagram?

Kadnlar erkeklere gre daha ok alyorlar.

a. D-H b. F-Gc. B-Cd. G-He. H-I

Self-test

A

Fakltenin dekantoplantda fikirlerini anlatt

B C

fakltenin dekanD E

toplantda fikirlerini anlattF G

fikirlerini anlattH I

A

kadnlar

B C

D E

erkeklere greF G H

J K

daha ok

alyorlar

I


9. Which one of the following represents the correctconstituent structure?

a. [[Kadnlar] [[[erkeklere] [gre] [[daha ok]alyorlar]]]

b. [Kadnlar erkeklere] [gre daha ok] alyorlar]c. [Kadnlar] [[erkeklere gre daha ok] alyorlar]]d. [Kadnlar] [[[erkeklere] [gre] [[daha ok]

alyorlar]]]e. All of the above.

10. What do the following word groups illustrate?Sinema tutkunu, *tutkunu; barfl uruna,*uruna; yavafl yrmek, yrmek; karfldakiocuk, ocuk

a. Complements can be omitted, but modifierscannot.

b. Modifiers can be omitted, but complementscannot.

c. Both modifiers and complements can beomitted.

d. Heads can be omitted. e. Neither complements nor modifiers can be

omitted.


Read the following texts and then try to answer thequestions:

What have you learned about human languages? Where does the big language family come from? Hew did languages change?

Langaney, Andre, ve dierleri (2000) nsann en gzelTarihi, fl Bankas Yaynlar, stanbul. (eviren Emineaykara) (sayfa: 45-46)

1. Bugn, artk daha ok tm dillerin tek bir kkendendoduu dflnlyor. Bunu dorulayan dillerinbirbiriyle uyuflma katsays. Amerikal NoamChomskynin alflmalar sonucunda dilbilimciler, tmdiller iin ortak bir gramer yaps olduunu keflfettiler.Ayn zamanda, kkeni ne olursa olsun bir bebeinevrensel bir lisan yetenei tafld biliniyor: nsanlarndoduklarnda, btn lisanlar renme ve konuflmaimkan var; ama insan evresinde duyduu lisan veyalisanlara iliflkin seslere ncelik vererek bu yeteneinikaybediyor. Buradan hareketle, btn insanlarda btnsesleri retme ve cmle kurma gibi ortak bir yeteneinvarl sonucu kyor. Ayrca, dilbilimciler, mevcut dillerarasndaki balar yeniden oluflturarak bunlarn iindekiok uzak akrabalklar arafltrd ve byk dil ailesinisaptadlar.

(sayfa 47)2. Konufltuumuz lisan belirleyenin genler olmadnbiliyoruz. Bir bebek, kkeni ne olursa olsun, yetifltiiyerdeki lisan reniyor. Lisanlar ve genler arasndabylesine bir paralellik bulunmasnn nedeni,gnmzden nce 30 000 ile 3 000 yllar arasndainsanlarn Afrika ktasna drt dalga halinde yaylmasve bunun drt byk dil ailesine denk gelmesi. Bugruplarn birbirleriyle ok iliflkileri yoktu, lisanlar okhzl birbirinden ayrlrken genlerinin tekrar da paralelolarak deifliyordu.Lisanlar ok abuk deiflti. Dflnn ki bin yl ncekonuflulan ortaa Franszcasn bugn biz anlamyoruz.Franszca ve talyanca en azndan iki bin yldrbirbirinden ayrld. Diller gen frekansndan ok dahaabuk deifliyor. Yeni diyalektlerin ve ardndan yenilisanlarn domas iin iki ya da asr yeterli.

Berk; Lynn (1999) English Syntax: From Word toDiscourse. Oxford University Press,Oxford.

Brinton, Laurel J. (2000) The Structure of ModernEnglish. John Benjamins, Amsterdam andPhiladelphia.

Dowty, David. (2000) The Dual Analysis ofAdjuncts/Complements in Categorial

Grammar. ZAS Papers in Linguistics Volume 17,Pp. 53-78.

Johanson, Lars and Eva A. Csato (1998) The TurkicLanguages. Routledge. London and New York.

Kornfilt, Jaklin (1997) Turkish. Routledge. London andNew York.

OGrady, William, Michael Dovrovolsky, and FrancisKatamba. ((1996, 3rd edition) ContemporaryLinguistics. Pearson Education Limited, London.

Radford, Andrew (1988) Transformational Grammar.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Wardaugh, Ronald (1995) Understanding EnglishGrammar. Blackwell, London.

Turkish Alive

References


I. The following square bracket representation is theidentical equivalent of the tree diagram:[A[B Ali] [C[D Ayfleyi] [E seviyor]]]]

II. The square bracket representation above directlyreflects the immediate and ultimate constituents.The other representation has problems becausethe string Ali Ayfleyi does not form a constituent.

III. The immediate constituents are [[B Ali] [CAyfleyiseviyor]].

IV. The ultimate constituents are [D Ayfleyi] [E seviyor].V. The following words can be substituted under the

following nodes: Kim: Node B (Ali) Kimi: Node D (Ayfleyi) Ne yapyor: Node C (Ayfleyi seviyor)

VII. The tree diagram of the sentence Sar sal kzokula gitti is given below:

I. a. kitab yazmak: Complement: kitab; Head:yazmak

b. mavi duvar: Modifier: mavi; Head: duvarc. gzel iek: Modifier: gzel; Head: iekd. bilimsellik uruna: Complement bilimsellik;Head:

uruna

e. yeni proje: Modifier: yeni; Head: proje

I. The words Nuriye and elbisesini do not form aconstituent.

II. This is because these two words can not besubstituted with a question word. Besides, they arenot in any kind of relationship, such as Modifier-Head, or Complement-Head.

I. a. Yeni bilgisayarn ofisindeki masasnn zerinekurdu.

This sentence is grammatical, because, the subject,which forms a constituent on its own in deleted.

b. Mehmet yeni bilgisayarn kurdu.This sentence is also grammatical since theconstituents are all in the sentence.

c. Mehmet ofisindeki masann zerine kurdu.This sentence is grammatical so long as it is theanswer of Mehmet yeni bilgisayarn nereye kurdu?

Note that the constituent yeni bilgisayarn isdeleted.

d. * Mehmet yeni kurdu.This sentence is ungrammatical due to the fact thatthe modifier of yeni bilgisayarn is not deleted; butthe head bilgisayarn is omitted. Remember thatHeads cannot be deleted if their modifiers are inthesentence. We could have deleted the wholeconstituent yeni bilgisayarn.

e. * Mehmet yeni bilgisayarn zerine kurdu.The sentence above is ungrammatical because thecomplement of zerine, i.e. masann is deleted.Thus, zerine is left alone without its complements.Thus, it cannot form a constituent. One part of aconstituent cannot be deleted as such.

Key to It is your turn!

A

B Csar sal kz okula gitti

D E F G

H I

sar sal

kz okula gitti

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In this unit we will try to seek answers to the following questions: How do we define sentences and clauses? What are subjects and predicates? What is a phrase? What types of phrases are there in Turkish?What are Phrase Structure R

turkish syntax, semantics

Documents

anadolu nverstes yayini

baslamaz ve datlamaz

prescriptive grammar

mental grammar

genel koordinatr yardmcsdo

discoursetrke tmce bilgisi

discoursetrke tmce blgs

aikretm fakltes yayini