noun modifiers in english and turkish, yuksel goknel signed

[Metni yazın]

2014

NOUN MODIFIERS

in

ENGLISH

and

TURKISH

Yüksel Göknel

www.yukselgoknel.com.

NOUN MODIFIERS IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

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The colors given in this article indicate the functions of the

words or phrases. They are as follows:

1. Subjects are written in blue.

2. Objects and prepositions are written in black.

3. Noun modifiers are written in purple.

4. Subject complements are written in brown.

5. Adverbs, adverbials, and adverb clauses are written in

green.


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MODIFIERS IN ENGLISH

Modifiers in Turkish and English are of two kinds. Some modifiers are

groups of words that give information about nouns by answering the

interrogative adjective or modifier “which?”, the other modifiers are

groups of words that answer the interrogative adverbs “when?”,

“where?”, “how?” or “why?” an action takes place.

The modifiers that modify and define nouns produce nominal

phrases that can be used as subjects, objects, objects of preposi-

tions, or subject complements in sentences. On the other hand,

adverbs, adverbial phrases and clauses are additional optional

elements that give optional information about verbs. Therefore,

although these two are called modifiers, the functions of these

modifiers in the sentence producing system are quite different.

In the following article, the modifiers that define nouns are given in

detail. The modifiers that modify verbs are given in another article

under the title “Adverbs, adverbials and adverbial clauses”.

NOUN MODIFIERS IN ENGLISH

1. Some modifiers are used before nouns in English:

Articles: a boy, an engineer, the president

Possessive pronouns: my father, your aim, his wife, her

decision, its tail, our project, your horses, their help

Possessive nouns: Jack’s teacher, the teacher’s anger, my

grandmother’s car, the company’s project

Demonstrative adjectives: this boy, that car, these questions,

those books

Adjectives: that blue car, this old armchair, those twinkling

lights, a historic monument, a reasonable decision

Participles: a barking dog, a broken chair, forgotten memories, a

leaking pipe, a stolen car, a torn coat


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2. Some modifiers are used after nouns:

Prepositional phrases: the boys in the garden, the houses by the

sea, the treasure under the floor, the postman at the door

Adjective clauses: the boys who are playing in the garden, the

fish that the cat ate, the man whose car was stolen, the garden

where the children are playing

All the nouns together with their modifiers are nominal phrases

because they can be used as subjects, objects or objects of

prepositions in sentences.

NOUN MODIFIERS IN TURKISH

All modifiers are generally used before nouns in Turkish, except for

some modifiers that are used after pronouns and nouns.

Articles: Only the indefinite article “bir” is used before nouns in

Turkish:

bir çocuk “a boy”, bir araba “a car”, bir kadın “a woman”, bir

kedi “a cat”

In place of the article “the” of the English language, the allomorphs

[i, ı, ü, u] are used following the vowel harmony of the Turkish

language when nouns or pronouns are used in the object position.

Nouns: kalem-i “the pencil”, adam-ı “the man”, göz-ü “the eye”,

okul-u “the school”, araba-/y/ı, “the car”, koku-/y/u “the smell”,

kavga-/y/ı “the fight”.

Pronouns: ben-i “me”, sen-i “you”, o-/n/u “him, her, it”, biz-i

“us”, siz-i “you”, onlar-ı “them”.

If proper nouns are used in the object position, they are also

suffixed by the [i, ı, ü, u] allomorphs when they are in the object

position in Turkish contrary to English where the proper nouns are

used without definite articles:

Ben dün Jack-i gördüm. I saw Jack yesterday.


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If a definite noun is used as the subject of a sentence, no allo-

morphs are needed attached to these nouns in Turkish:

Dün bahçede bir tavşan gördüm, ama tavşan kaçtı.

I saw a rabbit in the garden, but the rabbit ran away.

Similarly, when active sentences are transformed into passive forms,

the objects attached to [i, ı, ü, u] allomorphs become the formal

subjects (mentally they are the objects) of the passive sentences

carrying definite concepts without the [i, ı, ü, u] allomorphs attached

to them:

Jack pencere-/y/i kır-dı. Jack broke the window.

Pencere kır-ıl-dı. The window was broken. (Passive)

Jack her zaman kapı-/y/ı carp-ar. Jack always slams the door.

Kapı her zaman carp-ıl-ır. The door is always slammed. (Passive)

Onlar hız-ı artır-dı-lar. They increased the speed.

Hız artır-ıl-dı. The speed was increased. (Passive)

Possessive pronouns:

Using possessive pronouns in Turkish is quite different from using

English possessive pronouns. For instance, if someone says “my”, no

one can understand anything because there is something lacking in

this utterance. The lacking element is the noun that should follow the

possessive pronoun, such as:

my book, your mother, her makeup, his courage, its tail, our

friends, your daughter, our problem, their curiosity.

If one literally translates the expressions above into Turkish, the fol-

lowing ungrammatical Turkish expressions are produced:

*ben-im kitap, *sen-in anne, *o-/n/un makyaj, *o-/n/un cesaret,

*biz-im sorun.

In Turkish, possessive allomorphs that have the same meanings as

the possessive pronouns should be attached to the nouns that they

modify:


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(ben-im) derter-im (be*nim / def*te*rim) my notebook

(ben-im) kitap-ım (be*nim / ki*ta*bım) my book

(ben-im) yüz-üm (be*nim / yü*züm) my face

(ben-im) kol-um (be*nim / ko*lum) my arm

(ben-im) anne-em (be*nim / an*nem) my mother

(ben-im) baba-am (be*nim / ba*bam) my father

All the [im, ım, üm, um, em, am] allomorphs mean “ben-im” “my”.

(sen-in) defter-in (se*nin / def*te*rin) your notebook

(sen-in) kitap-ın (se*nin / ki*ta*bın) your book

(sen-in) yüz-ün (se*nin / yü*zün) your face

(sen-in) kol-un (se*nin / ko*lun) your arm

(sen-in) anne-en (se*nin / an*nen) your mother

(sen-in) baba-an (se*nin / ba*ban) your father

All the [in, ın, ün, un, en, an] allomorphs mean “sen-in” “your”

(o-/n/un) defter-i (o*nun / def*te*ri) his notebook

(o-/n/un) kitap-ı (o*nun / ki*ta*bı) his book

(o-/n/un) yüz-ü (o*nun / yü*zü) his face

(o-/n/un) kol-u (o*nun / ko*lu) his arm

(o-/n/un) anne-/s/i (o*nun / an*ne*si) his mother

(o-/n/un) baba-/s/ı (o*nun / ba*ba*sı) his father

All the [i, ı, ü, u, /s/i, /s/ı] allomorphs mean “o-/n/un” “his, her, its”

(biz-im) defter-im-iz (bi*zim / def*te*ri*miz) our notebook

(biz-im) kitap-ım-ız (bi*zim / ki*ta*bı*mız) our book

(biz-im) yüz-üm-üz (bi*zim / yü*zü*müz) our face

(biz-im) kol-um-uz (bi*zim / ko*lu*muz) our arm

(biz-im) anne-em-iz (bi*zim / an*ne*miz) our mother

(biz-im) baba-am-ız (bi*zim / ba*ba*mız) our father

All the [im-iz, ım-ız, üm-üz, um-uz, em-iz, am-ız] allomorphs mean

“biz-im” “our”.


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(siz-in) defter-in-iz (si*zin / def*te*ri*niz) your notebook

(siz-in) kitap-ın-ız (si*zin / ki*ta*bı*nız) your book

(siz-in) yüz-ün-üz (si*zin / yü*zü*nüz) your face

(siz-in) kol-un-uz (si*zin / ko*lu*nuz) your arm

(siz-in) anne-en-iz (si*zin / an*ne*niz) your mother

(siz-in) baba-an-ız (si*zin / ba*ba*nız) your father

All the [in-iz, ın-ız, ün-üz, un-uz, en-iz, an-ız] allomorphs mean “siz-

in” “your”.

(onlar-ın) defter-i (on*la*rın / def*te*ri) their notebook

(onlar-ın) kitap-ı (on*la*rın / ki*ta*bı) their book

(onlar-ın) yüz-ü (on*la*rın / yü*zü) their face

(onlar-ın) kol-u (on*la*rın / ko*lu) their arm

(onlar-ın) anne-/s/i (on*la*rın / an*ne*si) their mother

(onlar-ın) baba-/s/ı (on*la*rın / ba*ba*sı) their father

All the [i, ı, ü, u, /s/i, /s/ı] allomorphs mean “onlar-ın” “their”

As the possessive allomorphs attached to the nouns are enough to

express the possessive pronouns in brackets, these possessive

pronouns can be ignored unless they are intentionally stressed

because “defter-im” means “ben-im defter-im”, and “ev-im-iz”

means “biz-im ev-im-iz”.

All the possessive pronouns above together with the nouns that they

modify are noun compounds in Turkish. All the other noun com-

pounds that contain proper or common possessive nouns follow the

third person “possessive pronoun + noun-possessive allomorph” pro-

totype to constitute noun compounds in Turkish:

The noun compounds “o-/n/un okul-u” and “Jack-in okul-u” are

structurally the same noun compounds like “his school” and “Jack’s

school”. All the other noun compounds use the same template to

produce noun compounds in Turkish:

“o-/n/un araba-/s/ı”, “ahmet-in araba-/s/ı”, “oda-/n/ın kapı-/s/ı”, “Jack-

in konu-/y/u anla-ma-/s/ı”, “çalış-ma-/n/ın bit-me-/s/i”, “hırsız-ın kaç-

ma-/s/ı”.


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As it is seen in the examples above, the infinitives are also used in

noun compounds. There are four kinds of infinitives in Turkish:

1. The [mek, mak] allomorphs that are attached to verb roots, verb

stems and verb frames:

gör-mek, konuş-mak, yürü-mek, ağla-mak, bekle-mek (verb root-

[mek, mak])

el-le-mek, baş-la-mak, kara-la-mak, öte-le-mek (verb stem-[mek,

mak])

gör-ün-mek, gör-ül-mek, kaç-ış-mak, bul-un-mak (verb frame-[mek,

mak])

The [mek, mak] infinitives are not used in noun compounds.

2. The [me, ma] allomorphs that are attached to verb roots, stems or

frames:

gör-me, konuş-ma, yürü-me, ağla-ma, bekle-me, başla-ma, ötele-me,

görül-me, bulun-ma, sözleş-me, kaçış-ma, bakış-ma, dön-me, anla-

aş-ma…

The infinitives with [me, ma] allomorphs are widely used to produce

noun compounds that do not modify nouns. They can be used by

themselves in sentences as subjects, objects, or objects of prepo-

sitions.

Mary-/n/in ağla-ma-/s/ı hepimiz-i üz-dü. noun compound def object verb

subject predicate

Mary’s crying made all of us sorry.

(Ben) Jack-in gel-me-/s/i-/n/i bekle-i.yor-um. (bek*li*yo*rum) subj (noun compound) def object verb

predicate

I am waiting for Jack to come.

3. The [dik, dık, dük, duk, tik, tık, tük, tuk] infinitive allomorphs that are

attached to verbs are used in noun compounds that include question

words. They are not modifiers that modify nouns:

(Ben) Jack-in ne iste-dik-i-/n/i bil-me-i.yor-um. (bil*mi*yo*rum)

subj (noun compound) def obj verb

predicate

I don’t know what Jack wants.


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(Ben) Jack-in nere-/y/e, nasıl ve niçin git-tik-i-/n/i bil-me-i.yor-um. subj (nun compound) definite object verb

predicate

I don’t know where, how and why Jack went.

4. The [iş, ış, üş, uş] allomorphs attached to verbs that produce noun

compounds do not modify nouns. They are used as subjects or ob-

jects: O/n/un gel-iş-i muhteşem ol-a.cak. noun compound subj comp verb

subject predicate

His coming will be spectacular.

(Ben) güneş-in doğ-uş-u-/n/u bekle-i.yor-um. subj (noun comp) definite obj verb

I am waiting for the sun to rise.

Noun compounds having the [dik, dık, dük, duk, tik, tık, tük, tuk] allo-

morphs attached to the verbs in the second parts of the compounds

are also used to modify nouns: O/n/un çalış-tık-ı şirket çok kalabalık. (noun comp) modifier noun subject complement

subject predicate

The company where he works is very crowded.

(Sen) o/n/un çalış-tık-ı şirket-i bil-i.yor mu-sun? subj (noun compound) def obj verb

predicate

Do you know the company where he works?

If the allomorphs [de.ki, da.ki] are attached to nouns, they produce

modifiers that modify the following nouns in sentences:

bahçe-de.ki kedi “the cat in the garden” modifier noun noun modifier

nominal phrase nominal phrase

(ben-im) köpek-im bahçe-de.ki kedi-/y/i kovala-dı. noun compound nominal phrase |

subject definite object verb

predicate

My dog chased the cat in the garden. subject | | prepositional phrase

verb object modifier

predicate


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Kapı-/n/ın arka-sı/n/-da.ki oyuncak-lar (ben-im) kız-ım-ın. modifier noun subject complement

(nominal phrase) subject predicate

The noun compounds in Turkish are of three kinds.

1. Definite noun compounds:

All the noun compounds above having possessive pronouns or pos-

sessive nouns are nominal phrases. For instance:

ben-im okul-um (be*nim / o*ku*lum) my school

onlar-ın ev-i (on*la*rın / e*vi) their house

o-/n/un bahçe-/s/i (o*nun / bah*çe*si) his garden

bahçe-/n/in ağaç-lar-ı (bah*çe*nin / a*ğaç*la*rı) the trees of the garden

oda-/n/ın kapı-/s/ı (o*da*nın / ka*pı*sı) the door of the room

fiyat-lar-ın art-ma-/s/ı (fi*yat*la*rın / art*ma*sı) the increasing of the prices

kuş-lar-ın öt-me-/s/i (kuş*la*rın / öt*me*si) the singing of the birds

1. Definite noun compounds:

o-/n/un kapı-/s/ı (o*nun / ka*pı*sı) (its door); oda-/n/ın kapı-/s/ı

(o*da*nın / ka*pı*sı) (the door of the room); o-/n/un yakıt-ı (o*nun /

ya*kı*tı) (its fuel); araba-/n/ın yakıt-ı (a*ra*ba*nın / ya*kı*tı) (the fuel

of the car); okul-un otobüs-ü (o*ku*lun / o*to*bü*sü) (the bus of

the school); bahçe-/n/in kapı-/s/ı (bah*çe*nin / ka*pı*sı) (the gate of

the garden); Kim-in tarla-/s/ı? (ki*min↝ / tar*la*sı↝) çiftçi-/n/in

tarla-/s/ı (çift*çi*nin / tar*la*sı) (the farm of the farmer); Nere-/n/in

halı-/s/ı? (ne↝re*nin / ha*lı*sı↝); oda-/n/ın halı-/s/ı (o*da*nın /

ha*lı*sı) (the carpet of the room); Kim-in karı-/s/ı? (ki*min↝ /

ka*rı*sı↝); Jack’in karı-/s/ı. (ja*kin / ka*rı*sı) (Jack’s wife); yürü-

me-/n/in yarar-ı (yü*rü*me*nin / ya*ra:*rı) (the benefit of walking);

Ne-/y/in renk-i? (ne*yin↝ / ren*gi↝) şarap-ın renk-i (şa*ra*bın /

ren*gi) (the color of the wine); çiçek-in güzellik-i (çi*çe*ğin /

gü*zel*li*ği) (the beauty of the flower)

2. Indefinite noun compounds:

Turkish indefinite noun compounds are different from English

indefinite noun compounds. English indefinite noun compounds are


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formed of two nouns following one another, such as: school bag, bus

stop, human rights. However, in the Turkish noun compounds, the

first noun is used without any suffixes, but the following noun is used

suffixed by a third person personal allomorph [i, ı, ü, u], such as: okul

çanta-/s/ı (o*kul / çan*ta*sı), otobüs du-rak-ı (o*to*büs / du*ra*ğı),

insan hak-lar-ı (in*san / hak*la*rı).

The following are examples of the indefinite noun compounds:

Ne çanta-/s/ı? (ne↝ / çan*ta*sı↝); Okul çanta-/s/ı (o*kul / çan*ta*sı)

(school bag); Ne soru-lar-ı? (ne↝ / so*ru*la*rı↝); Sınav soru-lar-ı

(sı*nav / so*ru*la*-rı) (examination questions); öğrenci kavga-/s/ı

(öğ*ren*ci / kav*ga*sı) (stu-dent fight); otomobil yarış-ı (o*to*mo*bil /

ya*rı*şı) (car race); insan hak-lar-ı (in*san / hak*la*rı) (human rights);

Ne reçel-i? elma reçel-i (el*ma / re*çe*li) (apple jam); Ne kaza-s/ı?

(ne↝ / ka*za:*sı↝); araba kaza-/s/ı (a*ra*ba / ka*-za:*sı) (car

accident); kalem kutu-su (ka*lem / ku*tu*su) (pencil box); kış bahçe-

/s/i (kış / bah*çe*si) (winter garden); işsizlik sorun-u (iş*siz*lik / so*-

ru*nu) (unemployment problem); yaz eğlence-/s/i (yaz / eğ*len*ce*si)

(sum-mer entertainment); güneş gözlük-ler-i (gü*neş / göz*lük*le*ri)

(sunglasses); patates salata-/s/ı (pa*ta*tes / sa*la*ta*sı) (potato

salad); hava kirlilik-i (ha*-va / kir*li*li*ği) (air pollution); baş ağrı-/s/ı

(ba*şağ*rı*sı) (headache).

3. Noun compounds without personal allomorphs.

The nouns used without personal allomorphs in the first parts of these

noun compounds function as definers. For instance:

Nasıl kutu? Tahta kutu (tah*ta / ku*tu) (wooden box); Nasıl bilezik?

Altın bilezik (al*tın / bi*le*zik) (golden bracelet); porselen fincan

(por*se*len / fin*can) (china cup); demir kapı (de*mir / ka*pı) (iron

door); taş bina (taş / bi*na:) (stone building); plastik oyuncak

(plas*tik / o*yun*cak) (plastic toy); bakır tel (ba*kır / tel) (copper

wire); mermer heykel (mer*mer / hey*kel) (marble statue); kız

arkadaş (kı*zar*ka*daş) (girl friend); erkek arkadaş (er*ke*kar*-

ka*daş) (boy friend); gümüş para (gü*müş / pa*ra) (silver coin); tah-

ta köprü (tah*ta / köp*rü) (wooden bridge); Beyaz Saray (be*yaz /

sa*ray) (The White House).


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English adjective clauses and Turkish adjective phrases.

There are adjective phrases in Turkish in place of the adjective

clauses of the English language. Turkish adjective phrases

(modifiers) come before the nouns that they modify contrary to the

English adjective clauses (modifiers) that follow nouns.

The mental foundation of English adjective clauses and Turkish

adjective phrases seem to be English and Turkish simple sentences.

In other words, there lie simple sentences under all English adjective

clauses and Turkish adjective phrases. First let us see how English

adjective clauses are produced from an English simple sentence.

There are three nouns in the following example sentence:

The girls were peeling potatoes in the kitchen.

1 2 3 1. If one wants to modify the first noun “the girls”, he asks himself

“Which girls?”, and mentally transforms the rest of the sentence into

an adjective clause to modify “the girls”: “the girls who were peeling

potatoes in the kitchen” 2. If he wants to modify the second noun “potatoes”, he asks “Which

potatoes?”, and mentally transforms the rest of the sentence into an

adjective clause to modify “the potatoes”: “the potatoes which the

girls were peeling in the kitchen”. 3. If he wants to modify the third noun “the kitchen”, he asks himself

“Which kitchen?”, and mentally transforms the rest of the sentence

into an adjective clause to modify the “kitchen”: “the kitchen where

the girls were peeling potatoes”

All the modifiers together with their modified nouns above are nom-

inal phrases that can be used in the basic mental “subject + verb +

object” template as subjects, objects or objects of prepositions.

The girls who were peeling potatoes in the kitchen are my daughters. subject verb subj complement

I saw the girls who were peeling potatoes in the kitchen. subj verb (nominal phrase) object

predicate


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I am not interested in the girls who were peeling potatoes in the kitchen. subj verb subj compl prep (nominal phrase) object of the preposition “in”

predicate

The potatoes which the girls were peeling in the kitchen were of good quality. nominal phrase verb subj complement

subject predicate

I want to fry the potatoes which the girls were peeling in the kitchen. subj verb object (nominal phrase) object of “fry”

predicate

You saw the kitchen where the girls were peeling potatoes. subj verb object

Someone stole Jack’s car. ↻ Jack, whose car someone stole,

Jack, whose car someone stole, is very sorry. subject verb subj complement

predicate

Transforming simple sentences into adjective or noun clauses is a

learned activity of the logic. Therefore, the transformational rules of

languages change from language to language. Before producing an

adjective or a noun clause, someone should already have a simple

sentence in his mind. He chooses a noun in the simple sentence in

his mind to modify, and transforms the rest of the sentence into a

modifier to modify it. This language activity is learned, but it is

completely logical.

Turkish adjective phrases:

The Turkish equivalents of the English adjective clauses above are

the Turkish adjective phrases (modifiers) below:

Kızlar mutfak-ta patates soy-u.yor-du.

1 2 3 verb

1. If one wants to modify the first noun (the subject), he asks himself

“Hangi kızlar?”, and transforms the sentence into a modifier so that

he can use it in the basic “subject + object + verb” Turkish mental

template. In order to produce a modifier, he attaches one of the

[en, an] allomorphs following the vowel rules to a verb root, stem or a

frame to produce a modifier, such as:

mutfak-ta patates soy-an kız-lar modifier noun


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2. If he wants to modify the second noun “mutfak”, he asks himself

“Hangi mutfak?”, and transforms the sentence into a modifier so that

he can use it in the “subject + object + verb” Turkish mental basic

sentence template. To produce this modifier, a noun compound

having one of the [dik, dık, dük, duk, tik, tık, tük, tuk] allomorphs

should be attached to the infinitive parts of the noun compounds:

kızlar-ın patates soy-duk-u mutfak (noun compound) modifier noun

3. If someone wants to modify the noun “patatesler”, he asks himself

“Hangi patatesler?”, and he uses the same noun compound above

having the [dik, dık, dük, duk, tik, tık, tük, tuk] allomorphs attached to

the infinitive parts of the noun compound:

kız-lar-ın mutfak-ta soy-duk-u patatesler (noun compound) modifier noun

All the modifiers together with the nouns above are nominal phrases

that can be used as subjects, objects, or objects of prepositions that

can be used in the “subject + object + verb” Turkish mental template:

Mutfak-ta patates soy-an kızlar ben-im kız-lar-ım. modifier noun subject complement

(nominal phrase) subject predicate

The girls who are peeling potatoes in the kitchen are my daughters.

The symbols that are used in the examples above are as follows:

1. The single underlined consonants detach from their syllables and

attach to the vowels following them in speech: “gel-iş-i” (ge*li*şi)

2. The double underlined vowels drop, and the single underlined

consonants coming before them detach from their syllables and

attach to the vowels coming after the dropped vowels: bil-me-i.yor-

um (bil*mi*yo*rum)

3. The pronouns in brackets “( )” are optional. They are not used

unless they are intentionally stressed because the personal allo-

morphs attached to verbs that carry the same meanings as the pro-

nouns are enough to express the pronouns.

4. The words in brackets “( )” show the speech utterance of the words

whose syllables are separated by “*” star symbols. The rising “↝”


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arrows used after some syllables indicate that the syllables have a

rising intonation as if asking a question.

5. Three kinds of letters are used in the speech parts in brackets: The

syllables having weak stresses are written in “normal” letters; the

syllables that have secondary stresses are written in “italics”, and the

primarily stressed syllables are written in “bold” types.

6. The contractions used in the examples above are as follows:

comp = compound, obj = object, subj = subject, compl = complement

Yüksel Göknel

noun modifiers in english and turkish, yuksel goknel signed

Education

english modifiers

noun modifiers

turkish language

turkish contrary

english possessive pronouns

proper nouns

allomorphs i

english language