Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (Jun 2020)
A Text-Based Analysis of Turkish Existential Sentences
Abstract
This study analyses and discusses the use of existential sentences in texts in terms of the existential predicates used and types of these constructions. The sample of the study includes forty government programs published in Turkey between 1950 and 2016. As a result of the analysis 192 existential sentences are identified in the sample. Existential sentences are described and categorized based on the existential predicates and the sentence types. The findings show that the default form of the existential predicates is var+DIr in official documents although there are other predicates employed in existential constructions, including yok “not exist”, mevcut “exist”, sahip “have” and ait “belong to”. Of them the first three are the predicates of existence, and the remaining two are the predicates of possession. It should be noted that all of these existential predicates are mostly attached with –DIr. Concerning the types of existential sentences it is found that the government programs analysed include four different types and mostly contain possessive type of existentials. The other three types of existential constructions found in the sample are as follows: locative existentials, modal existentials and bare existentials. It is also identified that these existential constructions have specific structural properties which vary based on the existential predicates used. Each type of existential constructions performs several textual functions which are consistent with their structural and semantic properties. In regard to the existential predicates it is found that the predicates of existence, namely var “exist”, yok “not exist” and mevcut “exist”, are much more productive than those of possession, sahip “have” and ait “belong to”. Because the latter type is limited to the possessive type of existential sentences and is not employed in other three types of existential constructions.
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