A form-meaning interface for Turkish
In this thesis, we offer an account of the mutual constraints on the levels of morphology, syntax, phonology, semantics and pragmatics in Turkish. We analyse the interpretive aspects of Turkish case morphology, syntax and phonology in terms of notions like <I>strongness, focus, topic </I>and <I>predication. </I>In elaborating and formulating these notions, we mainly rely on situation-theoretic ideas and tools. We start by examining the semantics of the (Turkish) accusative suffix. We show that a direct object in Turkish must carry this suffix if it receives one of the interpretations which are usually categorised as <I>strong </I>(namely <I>definite, partitive, (epistemically) specific </I>or <I>strongly quantified </I>interpretations). Based on our discussion about accusative morphology, we later on offer a unified account of the semantics of case morphology in Turkish. We also offer an analysis of variations in word order and phonology in Turkish in terms of <I>focus-background </I>and <I>topic-comment. </I>We argue that there are (at least) three different notions of focus (and also of background) that should be identified and kept apart in the analysis of sentence structure: <I>focus of association, focus
Kilicaslan, Yilmaz
A form-meaning interface for Turkish. In this thesis, we offer an account of the mutual constraints on the levels of morphology, syntax, phonology, semantics and pragmatics in Turkish. We analyse the interpretive aspects of Turkish case morphology, syntax and phonology in terms of notions like <I>strongness, focus, topic </I>and <I>predication. </I>In elaborating and formulating these notions, we mainly rely on situation-theoretic ideas and tools. We start by examining the semantics of the (Turkish) accusative suffix. We show that a direct object in Turkish must carry this suffix if it receives one of the interpretations which are usually categorised as <I>strong </I>(namely <I>definite, partitive, (epistemically) specific </I>or <I>strongly quantified </I>interpretations). Based on our discussion about accusative morphology, we later on offer a unified account of the semantics of case morphology in Turkish. We also offer an analysis of variations in word order and phonology in Turkish in terms of <I>focus-background </I>and <I>topic-comment. </I>We argue that there are (at least) three different notions of focus (and also of background) that should be identified and kept apart in the analysis of sentence structure: <I>focus of association, focus
form_meaning interface turkish offer_account mutual constraint level morphology_syntax phonology semantics_pragmatic turkish analyse interpretive aspect turkish case morphology_syntax phonology term notion like focus topic predication elaborate formulate notion mainly rely situation theoretic idea tool start examine semantics turkish accusative suffix show direct object turkish must carry suffix receives interpretation usually categorise strong namely definite partitive epistemically specific strongly quantified interpretation based discussion accusative morphology later offer unified_account semantics case morphology turkish also_offer analysis variation word_order phonology turkish term focus background topic comment argue least_three different notion focus also background identify apart analysis sentence_structure focus association focus