A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

YKSEL GKNEL

2013
Yksel Gknel

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

Both English and Turkish learners have difficulty in learning English and Turkish pronouns. Therefore, in the following table, both the English and Turkish pronouns are given. Turkish pronouns are rule governed (regular) because all pronouns are followed by certain morphemes and allomorphs. However, some English pronouns are not rule governed (irregular). Such as: subjective pronoun Turkish: English: Turkish: English: Turkish: English: Turkish: English: Turkish: English: Turkish: English:: ben I sen you o he, she, it biz we siz you o-/n/lar they objective pronoun ben-i me sen-i you possessive possessive adjective pro. pronoun ben-im my sen-in your ben-im mine sen-in yours o-/n/un his, hers, its biz-im ours siz-in yours o-/n/lar-n theirs

o-/n/u o-/n/un him, her, it his, her, its biz-i us siz-i you o-/n/lar- them biz-im our siz-in your o-/n/lar-n their

If noticed, one can easily discover that the Turkish subjective pronouns are the basic pronouns to produce the other pronouns in Turkish. All kinds of pronouns in Turkish start with the subjective pronouns ben, sen, o, biz, siz, or onlar. To produce an objective pronoun, you should attach one of the "i, , , u" allomorphs to subjective

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

pronouns as suffxes following the Turkish vowel harmony rules. For instance: ben-i (be*ni), sen-i (se*ni), "o-u" (o-/n/u) biz-i (bi*zi), siz-i (si*zi), onlar- (on*la*r). In English, however, all subjective pronouns change except for the subjective pronouns "you" and "it": I me; you you; he him; she her; it it; we us; they them All the objective pronouns and additionally ojective proper nouns are suffixed by the "i, , , u" allomorphs n Turkish. For instance: O ben-i grd. He saw me. O Jack'i grd. He saw Jack. As it is seen, although the proper noun Jack is a definite person, it takes the allomorph "i" attached to the proper noun "Jack" in Turkish. This characteristic of the Turkish language makes it possible for the Turkish speakers or writers to change the places of the subject and object in the "subject + object + verb" basic sentence order into an "object + subject + verb" order: Jack Mary-i grd. Jack saw Mary. Mary-i Jack grd. Jack saw Mary. Although these two Turkish sentences mean "Jack saw Mary", as the subject "Jack" comes before the verb, the meaning of the second sentence changes into the meaning "Not anybody but Jack saw Mary". This sort of subject and object transposition is impossible in English. Jack saw Mary. *Mary Jack saw To produce a possessive adjective pronoun in Turkish, one should attach a personal possessive allomorph to one of the subjective pronouns in Turkish.

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

The possessive personal allamorphs are as follows: ben- im sen-in o- /n/un biz-im siz-in onlar-n When these possessive adjectives are separated into syllables, the single underlined consonants detach from their syllables and attach to the following "i, , , u" vowels to produce syllables. Such as: ben-im (be*nim), sen-in (se*nin), o-/n/un (o*nun), bizim (bi*zim), siz-in (si*zin), onlar-n (on*la*rn). As it is seen on the table above, the turkish possessive adjectives are also used as possessive pronouns in Turkish. Bu ben-im defter-im. This is my notebook. Bu defter ben-im. This notebook is mine. As for the English pronouns, we can see that some English pronouns are rule governed, but some others are not (irregular). The common possessive morpheme in English seems to be the apostrophy ('s) which is used after proper nouns like "Jack's", "Mary's"; after common nouns like "the man's", "the boy's", "the teacher's", etc. In Turkish, the English apostorphy ('s) like Turkish allomorphs are used following the Turkish subjective pronouns such as: I's, you's, he's, she's, it's, we's, you's , they's. However, in some English possessive adjectives, this basic apostrophy ('s) rule changes into different possessive adjectives such as: (I's) turns into "my", "you's" turns into "your", "he's" turns into "his", "it's" turns into "its", "we's" turns into "our", "they's" turnes into "their". In the given examples above, "he" and "it" subjective pronouns seem to have used the main apostrophy ('s) morpheme, which is heard in speech. Additionally, the posses-

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

sive interrogative adjective "who's" is written as "whose", which also uses the basic possessive morpheme ('s), which is heard in speech. In English people say "my book", "your teacher", "his work", "her friend", "its tail", "our school", "your friends", "their aim". As it is seen in these examples, the nouns followed by the possessive adjectives do not take any morphemes attached to them. If we translate them litarally into Turkish, they are written as "my book" "ben-im kitap", "your eyes" "sen-in gz-ler", "his car" "o-/n/un araba". The literal translations of all such expessions in Turkish are ungrammatical. Their grammatical translations are noun compounds such as: "my book" "ben-im kitap-m" (be*nim / ki*ta*bm) (the book of mine), "your house" "sen-n ev-in" (se*nin / e*vin) (the house of yours), "his scool" "o-/n/un okul-u" (o*nun / o*ku*lu), "our house" "biz-im okul-u.muz" (bi*zim / o*ku*lu*muz). Consequently, Turkish possessive adjective compounds are used like "the garden of the school" "okul-un bahe-/s/i", "his garden" "o-/n/un / bahe-/s/i". As it can be guessed, Turkish posessive adjectives that determin the following nouns are used like "the garden of the school" In Turkish, one has to attach personal possessive allomorphs to the ends of the determined nouns that carry the same meanings of the possessive adjectives. For instance: ben-im defter-im, ben-im kitap-m, ben-im yz-m, ben-im okul-um, ben-im baba-am, ben-im anne-em. In the expressions above, the "im", "m", "m", "um", "em", "am" allomorphs all mean "ben-im". sen-in defter-in, sen-in ya-n, sen-in gz-n, sen-in okul-un, sen-in araba-an, sen-in ene-en. In the expressions above, the "in, n, n, un, en, an" allomorphs mean "sen-in". o-/n/un ev-i, o-/n/un ba-, o-/n/un yz-, o-/n/un okul-u, o-/n/un anne/s/i, o--/n/un baba-/s/. In the expressions above, the "i, , , u" allomorphs mean "o-/n/un".

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

The /n/, and /s/ consonants between slashes show the glides that are put between vowels that help to maintain the harmony between vowels. biz-im ev-im.iz (bi*zim / e*vi*miz), biz-im mal-m.z (bi*zim / ma*l*mz), biz-im yz-m.z (bi*zim / y*z*mz), biz-im yol-um.uz (bi*zim / yo*lu*muz), biz-im anne-em-iz (bi*zim / an*ne*miz), biz-im araba-am.z (bi*zim / a*ra*ba*mz). In the expressions above, the "im.iz, m.z, m.z, um.uz, em.iz, am.z" allomorphs mean "biz.im". siz-in i-in.iz, siz-in at-n.z, siz-in yz-n.z, siz-in dost-un.uz, siz-in korku-un.uz, siz-in tarla-an.z, siz-in beleme-en.iz. In the expressions above, the "in.iz, n.z, n,z, un.uz, an.z, en.iz" allomorphs mean "siz-in". onlar-n i-ler-i, onlar-n ba-lar-, onlar-n d-ler-i onlar-n yol-lar- onlar-n alma-lar-. In the expressions above, the "ler-i, lar-" allomorphs mean "onlar-n". If a person thinks that the determined noun is singular, he does not need to use the "ler, lar" plural allomorphs such as: "onlar-n ev-i", "onlar-n aba-/s/", "onlar-n lk-/s/", "onlar-n kuku-/s/u". As there is a possessive adjective and a possessive morpheme carrying the same meaning attached to a noun in such expressions, one can use only the noun with the possessive morpheme attached to it. Therefore "defter-im" means "my notebook", "kitap-m" means "my book", "yz-m" means "my face", "okul-um" means "my school", "anne-em" means "my mother", "baba-am" means "my father". The possessive personal allomorphs attached to nouns carrying the meaning of the possessive adjectives are as follows: Ben-im = Sen-in = O/n/-un = Biz-im = Siz-in = O/n/lar-n = ...im, ...m, ...m, ...um, ...em, ...am ...in, ...n, ...n, ...un, ...en, ...an ...i, ..., ..., ...u ...im.iz, ...m.z, ...m.z, ...um.uz, ...em.iz, ...am.z ...in.iz, ...n.z, ...n.z, ...un.uz, ...en.iz, ...an.z ...(ler).i, ...(lar)., ..., ...u

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

If a speaker or writer do not want to emphasize "benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onlarn" possessive adjectives, he could only use "defterim" instead of "ben-im defter-im"; "anne-en" istead of "sen-in anneen"; "baba-an" instead of "sen-in baba-an"; "okul-un" istead of "sen-in okul-un"; "baba-/s/" instead of "o-/n/un baba-/s/", "ev-im.iz" instead of "biz-im ev-m.iz"; "korkular-" instead of "o/n/-lar-n korku-lar-". Common nouns, proper nouns and infinitives are used like the third person possessive adjectives in Turkish: "al-ma-/n/n bit-me-/s/i" the end(ing) of working "retmen-in gel-me-/s/i" the arrriving of the teacher "Jack-in baar-/s/" Jack's success In the examples above, the single underlined consonants detach from their syllables and attach to the first vowels of the following syllables if they start with vowels. If the coinciding vowels such as (a-a, e-e, u-u) follow each other, they combine and verbalize as single vowels: a-a a, e-e e, u-u u The /s/ and /n/ consonants showed between slashes are glides used between vowels to help to join them harmoniously. They do not carry meaning. Note: If you want to download and read my Turkish grammar free, you should write "TURKISH GRAMMAR UPDATED ACADEMIC EDITION YUKSEL GOKNEL SEPTEMBER 2013" in your browser.

Yksel Gknel

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS