The Turkish category of Ad tamlaması. Differences and similarities within its subgroups and learning implications in L2-Turkish

Abstract

Ad Tamlaması (AT) is a term which is widely used in Turkish grammars (Hengirmen, 2007; Hatiboğlu, 1982, among others) to refer to three N(oun)+N(oun) forms, namely a) N-(n)In N-(s)I, b) N N-(s)I and c) N N, which have been traditionally treated in combination (Dede 1978). This paper is trying to examine the differences lying behind the apparently formal similarity of the 3 forms giving answers to the relative degree of difficulty these forms create in the L2-Turkish-acquisition process. To this aim, we try to disambiguate the so far blurred dividing lines of the 3 forms by testing them upon certain morpho-syntactic tests (Bağrıaçık & Ralli, 2014; Mavridou, 2020). The results will show the degree of syntactic compositionality and semantic transparency each of these forms holds giving rise to further assumptions on their syntactic or lexical nature. More specifically, we come to assume that: a) the N-(n)In N-(s)I form is syntactically and semantically analytic in all cases (eg. kadın-ın kuaför-ü ‘the woman’s hairdresser’), b) the N N-(s)I form is syntactically non-compositional (= synthetic) but semantically either transparent (eg. kadın kuaför-ü ‘hairdresser for women’) or opaque (Külkedi-si ‘Cindirella’), and c) the N N form is either syntactically analytic and semantically transparent (eg. kadın kuaför ‘female hairdresser’), or syntactically synthetic but semantically transparent (eg. anne baba ‘parents’) or syntactically synthetic but semantically opaque (eg. Pamuk Prenses ‘Snowhite’). At a second level, we make assumptions on the learning sequence of these forms in L2-Turkish. Based on ‘the more transparent the easier to learn’ theory (Libben et. al. 2003), we assume that the syntactic N-(n)In N-(s)I form is a step ahead in the L2-Turkish acquisition process compared to more synthetic compound forms such as the N N-(s)I, while the N N form, which falls within the ‘grey’ region, is assumed to create the most burdens on L2-learners.