Abstract
Differential object marking (DOM) is a common feature of many languages, including Standard Turkish and Urum, a Turkish variety spoken by ethnic Greeks in Georgia. This article investigates the interaction between case marking and word order in both varieties of Turkish. While Standard Turkish shows a strong dependence of the case marking possibilities from word order, i.e. bare objects may only appear in immediately preverbal position of a clause, the analysis reveals that bare objects in Urum may occur in any position of a clause. This provides evidence that the verb in Urum can freely move within the VP.
Acknowledgments
I am particularly grateful to Violeta Moisidi (Tbilisi) for the translation and recordings of the Urum stimuli and to Emrah Turan (Bielefeld University) for his assistance with the translation of the Turkish stimuli. The present article is part of the project “The impact of current transformational processes on language and ethnic identity: Urum and Pontic Greeks in Georgia” (Bielefeld University and European-University Viadrina) funded by the VW-foundation.
Abbreviations
- acc
accusative
- aor
aorist
- dat
dative
- gen
genitive
- inf
infinitive
- loc
locative
- poss
possessive
- prog
progressive
- pl
plural
- pst
past
- sg
singular
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Appendix
Experiment 1
ID | ||||
1 | Turkish: | Nesrin | masal/masalı | anlatıyor. |
Urum: | Liana | ekiät/ekiäti | nahıledier. | |
‘Nesrin/Liana is telling a/the fairy tale.’ | ||||
2 | Turkish: | Elin | araba/arabayı | satıyor. |
Urum: | Sofia | mašina/mašinayi | satier. | |
‘Elin/Sofia is selling a/the car.’ | ||||
3 | Turkish: | Lara | meptup/mektubu | atiyor. |
Urum: | Lara | pismo/pismoyi | yollier. | |
‘Lara is sending a/the letter.’ | ||||
4 | Turkish: | Dana | şal/şali | örüyor. |
Urum: | Anna | šarf/šar-i | tohier. | |
‘Dana/Anna is knitting a/the scarf.’ | ||||
5 | Turkish: | Elisa | çiçek/çiçeği | dikiyor. |
Urum: | Elisa | čičäg/čičägi | äkier. | |
‘Elisa is planting a/the flower.’ | ||||
6 | Turkish: | Tugce | şarki/şarkiyi | sölüyor. |
Urum: | Marika | türki/türkiyi | čağırier. | |
‘Tugce/Marika is singing a/the song. | ||||
7 | Turkish: | Leyla | dergi/dergiyi | okuyor. |
Urum: | Tamara | gazet/gazeti | ohier. | |
‘Leyla/Tamara is reading a/the newspaper.’ | ||||
8 | Turkish: | Alexa | şiir/şiiri | yazıyor. |
Urum: | Alexa | stih/stihi | yazier. | |
‘Alexa is writing a/the poem.’ |
Experiment 2
ID | ||||
9 | Turkish: | Mesut | film/filmi | izliyordu. |
Urum: | Sandro | kino/kinoyi | bahierdi. | |
‘Mesut/Sandro was watching a/the film.’ | ||||
10 | Turkish: | Kız | elma/elmayı | yiyordu. |
Urum: | Ğız | alma/amayi | ierdi. | |
‘A girl was eating an/the apple.’ | ||||
11 | Turkish: | Selma | araba/arabayı | sürüyordu. |
Urum: | Sasha | mašina/mašinayi | sürierdi. | |
‘Selma/Sasha was driving a/the car.’ | ||||
12 | Turkish: | Pinar | bisiklet/bisikleti | biniyordu. |
Urum: | Melani | velisaped/velisapedi | sürierdi. | |
‘Pinar/Melani was riding a/the bike.’ | ||||
13 | Turkish: | Ayla | çiçek/çiçeği | topluyordu. |
Urum: | Anastasia | čičäg/čičägi | toplierdi. | |
‘Ayla/Anastasia was picking a/the flower.’ | ||||
14 | Turkish: | Kız | elbise/elbiseyi | alıyordu. |
Urum: | Ğız | kaba/kabayi | alierdi. | |
‘A girl was buying a/the dress.’ | ||||
15 | Turkish: | Adam | ev/evi | yapıyordu. |
Urum: | Ärgiši | äv/ävi | alierdi. | |
‘A man was building a/the house.’ | ||||
16 | Turkish: | Anne | pasta/pastayi | yapıyordu. |
Urum: | Ana | tort/torti | edierdi. | |
‘The mother was baking a/the cake.’ |
Experiment 3
ID | |||||
17 | Turkish: | Murat | isteksiz | kitap/kitabı | okuyor. |
Urum: | Adrian | istämia | kniga/knigayi | ohier. | |
‘Murat/Adrian is reading a/the book unwillingly.’ | |||||
18 | Turkish: | Attila | belki | mektup/mektubu | yazıyor. |
Urum: | Nino | olabülür | pismo/pismoyi | yazier. | |
‘Attila/Nino is maybe reading a/the letter.’ | |||||
19 | Turkish: | Uğur | hızlı | elma/elmayı | yedi. |
Urum: | Dominic | tez | alma/almayi | ier. | |
‘Uğur/Dominic is eating an/the apple fast. | |||||
20 | Turkish: | Ahmet | dikkatlice | araba/arabayı | sürüyor. |
Urum: | Giorgi | arhein | mašina/mašinayi | surer. | |
Ahmet/Giorgi is driving a car/the car carefully. | |||||
21 | Turkish: | Aytül | genellikle | gazete/gazeteyi | okuyor. |
Urum: | Vasili | abıčno | gazet/gazeti | ohier. | |
‘Aytül/Vasili is usually reading a/the newspaper.’ | |||||
22 | Turkish: | Adem | yavaşça | araba/arabayı | geçiyor. |
Urum: | Andrey | usul | mašina/mašinayi | gečier. | |
‘Adem/Andrey is overtaking a/the car slowly.’ | |||||
23 | Turkish: | Havva | her zaman | şarki/şarkiyi | fuyuyor. |
Urum: | Irina | ärdämä | türki/türkiyi | čağırier. | |
‘Havva/Irina is always singing a/the song.’ | |||||
24 | Turkish: | Metin | asla | araba/arabayı | satıyor. |
Urum: | Soso | ech | mašina/mašinayi | satmier. | |
‘Metin/Soso is never selling a/the car.’ |
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