Turkish copula
Encyclopedia
This article supplements the general articles on the copula and Turkish grammar
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The English infinitive "to be" is rendered in Turkish
as olmak, while "existence" is varlık. The latter word is the abstract noun derived from var, which is an adjective meaning "existing" or "present". Both olmak and varlık are used to render Aristotle
's () (in the Metaphysics, line 1003a21, beginning of Book IV): Aristotle's Greek
is "being as such" or "being qua being" in English; in Turkish, it is varlık olmak bakımından varlık "existence from the point of view of being existence".
The infinitive olmak has the stem ol-, whose root meaning is "become". This verb is regular in its conjugation, as are all Turkish verbs, with the exception of one defective verb, whose stem is i- and which means "be". The missing forms of i- are supplied by ol-: the infinitive olmak is an example, since there is no infinitive *imek. (An infinitive ermek appeared in ancient texts; its stem er- became the current i- [Lewis, VIII,2 in both editions].)
The various functions of the English "am-was-be" are accomplished in Turkish in (at least) six different ways:
Thus, the role of a copula can be played by two different verbs, an adjective, a suffix, juxtaposition, and affixation. The six constructions collectively show three ways of negation:
Because Turkish has no verb for "have", var or olmak is used in expressions of possession: çekiç "hammer", çekicim "my hammer"; Çekicim var "I have a hammer"; Çekicim olsaydı "If I had a hammer".
Turkish grammar
Turkish is a highly agglutinative language, i.e., Turkish words have many grammatical suffixes or endings that determine meaning. Turkish vowels undergo vowel harmony. When a suffix is attached to a stem, the vowel in the suffix agrees in frontness or backness and in roundedness with the last vowel...
.
The English infinitive "to be" is rendered in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
as olmak, while "existence" is varlık. The latter word is the abstract noun derived from var, which is an adjective meaning "existing" or "present". Both olmak and varlık are used to render Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's () (in the Metaphysics, line 1003a21, beginning of Book IV): Aristotle's Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
is "being as such" or "being qua being" in English; in Turkish, it is varlık olmak bakımından varlık "existence from the point of view of being existence".
The infinitive olmak has the stem ol-, whose root meaning is "become". This verb is regular in its conjugation, as are all Turkish verbs, with the exception of one defective verb, whose stem is i- and which means "be". The missing forms of i- are supplied by ol-: the infinitive olmak is an example, since there is no infinitive *imek. (An infinitive ermek appeared in ancient texts; its stem er- became the current i- [Lewis, VIII,2 in both editions].)
The various functions of the English "am-was-be" are accomplished in Turkish in (at least) six different ways:
- From a noun or adjective, a complete sentence is formed by addition of one of the encliticCliticIn morphology and syntax, a clitic is a morpheme that is grammatically independent, but phonologically dependent on another word or phrase. It is pronounced like an affix, but works at the phrase level...
personal suffixes: -im "I am", -sin "thou art", -iz "we are", -siniz "you are". (These are enclitic in that they exhibit vowel harmonyVowel harmonyVowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
.) For example, from ada "island" comes Adayım "I am an island"; from mutlu "happy", Mutlusunuz "You are happy." These can be considered as instances of the zero copulaZero copulaZero copula is a linguistic phenomenon whereby the subject is joined to the predicate without overt marking of this relationship...
, since the personal suffixes are, in origin, personal pronouns [Lewis, VIII,3 in both editions]. - In another example of the zero copula, two nouns, or a noun and an adjective, can be juxtaposed to make a sentence: Abbas yolcu "Abbas is a traveller." However:
- The enclitic suffix -dir can be used for emphasis, or to prevent ambiguity: yolcu Abbas "traveller Abbas" (a person); Yolcudur Abbas "Abbas is a traveller (is characterized by travelling)."
- From the stem i-, the past, inferential, and conditional (hypothetical) bases idi, imiş, and ise are formed; hence Mutlu imişiz or Mutluymuşuz "Apparently, we were happy."
- Other tenses and moods are supplied by ol-: Mutlu ol "Be happy"; Mutlu olacaksın "Thou wilt be happy."
- Where English says "there is", Turkish says var: Gölde bir ada var "Lake-in an island present", that is, "There's an island in the lake."
Thus, the role of a copula can be played by two different verbs, an adjective, a suffix, juxtaposition, and affixation. The six constructions collectively show three ways of negation:
- Regular verbs are negated with the enclitic suffix -me: Mutlu olmayacaksın "Thou wilt not be happy."
- The negation of var is yok: Gölde hiçbir ada yok "There's no island in the lake."
- Negation in the remaining constructions is by the particle değil: Gökay yolcu değildir "Gökay is not a traveller"; Mutlu değilmişiz "Apparently, we were not happy."
Because Turkish has no verb for "have", var or olmak is used in expressions of possession: çekiç "hammer", çekicim "my hammer"; Çekicim var "I have a hammer"; Çekicim olsaydı "If I had a hammer".