Books by Selçuk İşsever
Essays on Turkish Linguistics: Proceedings of the 14th international conference on Turkish linguistics (6-8 August 2008)
Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009
Dilbillim İncelemeleri
Dilbilim İncelemeleri, 2005
[Studies on Linguistics]. (in Turkish)
Book Chapter by Selçuk İşsever
Word Order in Turkish (Springer), 2019
This study investigates the reason why wh phrases are illegitimate in postverbal positions in Tur... more This study investigates the reason why wh phrases are illegitimate in postverbal positions in Turkish while they are free to scramble in the preverbal area. The common view in the literature is that prosodic and interpretive properties of focus and wh phrases, i.e. taking obligatory primary stress and being non-recoverable, are inconsistent with the properties of the postverbal field, which is a destressed area reserved for backgrounded elements. Focusing mainly on wh data, this study proposes that phonological and interpretive effects of postverbal wh phrases that cause ungrammaticality can be derived from overt syntax. Building on empirical facts revealing the scope of focus is read directly from overt syntax, it is proposed that a postverbal wh phrase, being a variable, stays in a position where it cannot be bound by its operator, hence the ungrammaticality.
Sign Multilingualism (De Gruyter), Nov 2019
This study investigates how code blending is produced in the context of TİD – Turkish bimodal bil... more This study investigates how code blending is produced in the context of TİD – Turkish bimodal bilingualism. We follow Donati and Branchini (2013) for the classification of code blending but propose a slight revision for the types of code blends attested in our database. As for the question of how bimodals can generate blended utterances, we scrutinise two types of models for their accuracy to account for this type of data: the ‘interactive’ model (Emmorey et al., 2008) and the ‘minimalist’ model (MacSwan, 1997, 2000, 2005; Lillo-Martin et al., 2010, 2012, 2014; Quadros et al., 2013). It is shown that, having the fewest assumptions possible, the minimalist model is conceptually more accurate as well as theoretically simpler than the interactive model. We further investigate the applicability of the minimalist model to actual examples found in our database and conclude that it is not only conceptually accurate but also technically capable of accounting for different types of code blending.
Türk İşaret Dilinde Ne-Taşıma
Ellerle Konuşmak: Türk İşaret Dili Araştırmaları, Mar 2016
Current Directions in Turkish Sign Language Research, Sep 1, 2013
The fact that wh-elements can occur in a right peripheral position in most sign languages casts d... more The fact that wh-elements can occur in a right peripheral position in most sign languages casts doubt on the universality of the assumption that wh-movement always targets a leftward Spec,CP. Bearing on this issue, this study scrutinizes wh-movement facts in Turkish Sign Language (TİD), which has been hardly examined in the literature. We show that TİD illustrates a language where both leftward and rightward wh-movements are possible. To account for this dual nature of movement, we propose that TİD wh-phrases undergo movement to Spec,CP which is on the left, while wh-words move and adjoin to C on the right. Thus, as to the question in the literature whether universal grammar has a Spec position at the right edge of the sentence to host wh-elements, the TİD wh-movement data explored in this study favor for an analysis where rightward wh-movement is possible but the only Spec position dedicated to wh-phrases is on the left.
40. Yıl Yazıları 1972-2012, 2013
Pronouns in Turkish exhibit anti-subject orientation (ASO) effects in that a pronoun cannot be co... more Pronouns in Turkish exhibit anti-subject orientation (ASO) effects in that a pronoun cannot be coreferential with a subject if it is (i) within the same clause as the subject, or (ii) in an embedded subject position of a nominal clause and there is no other subject that intervenes. To account for these ASO effects, unlike previous studies which assume that pronouns undergo adjunction to a functional head by LF-movement, we propose a feature-movement analysis where the movement process takes place in narrow syntax by adjoining the categorial feature [+PRONOUN] to functional heads in the structure in a cyclic fashion in order to finally adjoin to a functional head which is both non-defective and verbal. Based on this feature-movement procedure, our system derives the ASO effects of pronouns as follows. When the [+PRONOUN] feature adjoins to a functional head, it also joins its Complete Functional Complex (CFC) which functions as the binding domain for the pronoun. Thus, in compliance with Principle B, the pronoun will be interpreted as disjoint from any DP also included within this domain, while any DP out of this domain can be coreferential with it. As [+PRONOUN] adjoins to more than one functional head in its way to the head it targets, it is included within more than one CFC, accounting for its different binding relations with each DP in the structure.
Generative Linguistics in Wroclaw No. 2, Current Issues in Generative Linguistics: Syntax, Semantics and Phonology. Joanna Blaszczak, Bozena Rozwadowska, and Wojciech Witkowski (Eds.) , 2012
"In this work we explore the A/A’-effects exhibited in topic fronting constructions in Spanish an... more "In this work we explore the A/A’-effects exhibited in topic fronting constructions in Spanish and Turkish. Although typologically quite distinct, these languages show similar properties when topics are preposed, especially as regards the binding interpretation of the fronted constituent. Anaphors may either display argumental or non-argumental properties: binding improvement and reconstruction. To explain the two effects we propose an analysis of fronted topics based on movement to Spec-TP, as a consequence of feature inheritance. The different binding effects are accounted for in terms of adjunction of anaphoric/pronominal features to functional heads, namely v0 and T0. We also argue that the interaction of information focus and binding is crucial to predict the interpretive properties of displaced elements both in Turkish and Spanish. This analysis dispenses with the traditional distinction between A- and A’-positions."
Essays on Turkish Linguistics: proceedings of the 14th international conference on Turkish linguistics (6-8 August 2008), 2009
Ambiguity of Morphological and Syntactic Analyses, 2008
One of the remarkable proposals on the ‘optionality’ problem of scrambling in recent literature i... more One of the remarkable proposals on the ‘optionality’ problem of scrambling in recent literature is the ‘options without optionality’ approach by Miyagawa (1997, 2003), which suggests the EPP-feature on T0 as the driving force for local scrambling. Miyagawa proposes that, in an OSV sentence in a SOV language like Japanese, either the subject or the object must satisfy the EPP-feature on T0 by undergoing A-scrambling to [Spec,TP]. However, considering the fact that scopal interactions of quantifiers as well as the binding facts of Turkish exhibit explicit reconstruction effects, this study reveals that Turkish local scrambling has the characteristics of A'-movement, which is inconsistent with the EPP-driven approach. It is argued that, since [Spec,TP] does not need to be filled in Turkish (Öztürk, 2004), the EPP-feature has nothing to do with the local scrambling of arguments in this language. This study also argues against the relationship between Case-marking and scrambling, showing that non-specific bare NPs can scramble to various positions in Turkish.
Türkçede Bilgi Yapısı ve Bilimsel Metinler (L. Uzun & E. Huber (eds.)), 2002
Konu kavramı neredeyse yüz yılı aşkın bir süredir dilbilimcilerin ilgisini çekmiş 1 , bu kavram f... more Konu kavramı neredeyse yüz yılı aşkın bir süredir dilbilimcilerin ilgisini çekmiş 1 , bu kavram farklı biçimlerde pek çok dilbilimci tarafından açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu çabanın bir sonucu olarak kavramın pek çok tanım ve açıklamasına ulaşılmış olmakla birlikte, bu tanım ya da açıklamalardan tek başına hiçbiri üzerinde tam bir anlaşmaya varılmış değildir. Bunun en önemli nedenlerinden biri, kavramın çok yönlü doğasıdır. Konu, bir yandan dilin anlam, kullanım ve sözdizim bileşenleriyle ilişki kurarken, diğer yandan da söylem ve tümce düzlemlerinde farklı görünümler sergilemekte 2 , bu da kavramın açıklanmasını zorlaştırmaktadır.
Türkçede Bilgi Yapısı ve Bilimsel Metinler (L. Uzun & E. Huber (eds.)), 2002
Papers by Selçuk İşsever
Çizgiselleştirmeye Özellik Tabanlı Bir Yaklaşım
Sozdizimsel bir turetimde yer alan dilsel birimlerin hangi sirayla sesletilecegini, yani ilgili y... more Sozdizimsel bir turetimde yer alan dilsel birimlerin hangi sirayla sesletilecegini, yani ilgili yapinin nasil cizgisellestirilecegini aciklamayi amaclayan klasik yonluluk degistirgeni alanyazinda elestirilmistir. Kayne’nin (1994) Cizgisel Ortusme Beliti ‘COB’ yaklasimindan baslayarak Uriagereka (1999) ve Fox ve Pesetsky (2005a) gibi calismalarla cizgisellestirme ve cizgisel bagimlilik iliskileri kuramin icinde onemli bir yer tutmaya baslamistir. COB, cizgisellestirme olgusunun sozdizimle olan birebir iliskisinin yanisira, evrensel taban varsayimi tartismalarina da katki saglamistir. Tezin amaci ise, evrensel taban varsayimi tartismalarini Turkce acisindan degerlendirmek; Turkce alanyazininda bu baglamdaki kavramsal ve deneysel acidan guclu savlari suzmek ve bu savlari ozellik eslemeye dayali bir cizgisellestirme yaklasimi ile yeniden cozumlemektir. COB yaklasimini temel alan Turkce alanyazinina goz atildiginda, olumsuz kutuplanma birimleri (Kural, 1997), ertelenmis ekleme ve baglac ...
DergiPark (Istanbul University), Mar 1, 2006
Bu çalışma, Türkçede Durum-yükleme ve çalkalama arasındaki ilişkileri adöbeklerinin sözlüksel öze... more Bu çalışma, Türkçede Durum-yükleme ve çalkalama arasındaki ilişkileri adöbeklerinin sözlüksel özellikleri bağlamında ve kopyalama kuramı açısından sorgulamayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmada, Durum-yükleme-özgüllük-çalkalama ilişkisi, eylemin hemen önündeki konumda bulunan [-özgül] nitelikli takısız (Durum-yüklenmemiş) nesne adöbekleri bağlamında sorgulanmakta ve bu niteliklere sahip birimlerin çalkalanamayacağını öngören önceki çalışmaların tersine, takısız adöbeklerinin Konu-özelliğine sahip olduklarında eylem-ardı konumlara çalkalanmakta özgür olduğu gösterilmektedir. Dolayısıyla, çalışmada, Durum-yükleme-çalkalama ilişkisinin daha önce belirlendiğinden daha gevşek olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmaktadır.
Politeness Marking and the Syntax of Discourse
Our goal in this paper is to show evidence for the Strong Uniformity Principle (SUP), based on th... more Our goal in this paper is to show evidence for the Strong Uniformity Principle (SUP), based on the syntax of politeness in typologically different languages. (1) Strong Uniformity (Miyagawa, 2010) Every language shares the same set of grammatical features, and every language overtly manifests these features in some fashion. We discuss how politeness marking works in different languages, namely, Turkish, Spanish, Elizabethan English (agreement languages) and Japanese (traditionally an agreementless language). Allocutive agreement (a by-product of the relative social status of speaker and addressee) and courtesy pronouns are taken up in order to ultimately show that the SUP holds with respect to the kind of features (discourse (δ) features and agreement (φ) features) attested in language, implementing ideas by Miyagawa (2012, 2017) who argues allocutive agreement is φ-agreement, and supporting the syntactization of discourse (Speas, 2000; Speas & Tenny, 2003; Haegeman & Hill, 2013; Portner, Pak & Zanuttini, to appear, a.o.).
Clause-initial scrambling in Turkish exhibits both Aand A′-properties. Some authors suggest that ... more Clause-initial scrambling in Turkish exhibits both Aand A′-properties. Some authors suggest that it is into an Aposition, while others consider that it targets an A′-position. There is also another view, which suggests that both Aand A′-scrambling exist in Turkish. On the other hand, considering the interaction between scrambling and information structure, i.e. topic and focus of the sentence, this study shows that previous proposals cannot account for the issue. Following Saito (2003), it is proposed that a derivational approach to scrambling where lexical features of the items undergoing scrambling are interpreted on a selectional basis allows us to deal with the issue in Turkish more properly, with no need to refer to the A/A′-contrast. Using this framework, I claim that clause-initial scrambling in Turkish is a uniform operation, which moves scrambled elements into a position where reconstruction is allowed. This study also reveals that the phenomenon called ‘lethal ambiguity’ (...
* I would like to thank Engin Uzun and Özgür Aydin for their useful comments. I also thank to aud... more * I would like to thank Engin Uzun and Özgür Aydin for their useful comments. I also thank to audience at ICTL 2004 held at Dokuz Eylül University 11-13 August, 2004. All shortcomings are mine. 1 Following Jackendoff (1972), I use [+F] as a diacritic to indicate the focus feature. Thus, [+F] in dicates that the item is in focus. Small capitals, on the other hand, mark nuclear stress.
A minimalist perspective on code blending in TİD – Turkish bimodal bilingualism
Sign Multilingualism, 2019
This study investigates how code blending is produced in the context of TİD – Turkish bimodal bil... more This study investigates how code blending is produced in the context of TİD – Turkish bimodal bilingualism. We follow Donati and Branchini (2013) for the classification of code blending but propose a slight revision for the types of code blends attested in our database. As for the question of how bimodals can generate blended utterances, we scrutinise two types of models for their accuracy to account for this type of data: the ‘interactive’ model (Emmorey et al., 2008) and the ‘minimalist’ model (MacSwan, 1997, 2000, 2005; Lillo-Martin et al., 2010, 2012, 2014; Quadros et al., 2013). It is shown that, having the fewest assumptions possible, the minimalist model is conceptually more accurate as well as theoretically simpler than the interactive model. We further investigate the applicability of the minimalist model to actual examples found in our database and conclude that it is not only conceptually accurate but also technically capable of accounting for different types of code blending.
Movement of Bare Objects in Turkish
Direct objects in Turkish may surface with or without overt case-marking. We refer to the object ... more Direct objects in Turkish may surface with or without overt case-marking. We refer to the object that lacks a case suffix as a bare object (BO). BOs differ from their case-marked counterparts in obligatorily receiving non-specific interpretation, and in being more restricted in the range of positions that they can occupy. We propose an analysis that explains both the distributional possibilities of BOs, as well as their non-specific reading. On our analysis, a BO undergoes movement for discourse-related reasons, but lacking a case-marker, it cannot move on its own; rather the BO pied-pipes the entire VP with it. By the time this movement happens, the VP contains only the BO, after the verb has vacated it on the way to T 0 . The non-specific interpretation of BOs follows from the fact that they always occupy a VP-internal position, rather than from the fact that they lack case-marking.
Agreement Verbs in Turkish Sign Language ( TİD ) from the Perspective of Templatic Morphology
One of the peculiarities of sign languages is that verbs are listed in the lexicon according to a... more One of the peculiarities of sign languages is that verbs are listed in the lexicon according to agreement types that are categorized by tripartite verb classification of Padden (1983, 1988, 1990): (i) plain verbs, (ii) agreement verbs, and (iii) spatial verbs. However, Padden’s classical classification does not clearly present the mutually exclusive criteria between the verb types in that transitions between the types have been frequently observed. In this study we aim to show that verb types are related to the combination of roots with specific verbal templates within TİD data, by following the view that SLs are similar to Semitic languages in exhibiting morphological [root + template] combination (Liddell, 1984; Fernald & LilloMartin, 2006). We analyze the root as an underspecified lexical and phonological core that becomes a pronounceable/signable verb in combining with verbal patterns/templates in the lexicalization process and suggest that TİD has six different verbal templates...
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Books by Selçuk İşsever
Book Chapter by Selçuk İşsever
Papers by Selçuk İşsever