2015

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE

ENGLISH AND TURKISH

PRONOUNS

YÜKSEL GÖKNEL

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

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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 objective possessive possessive pronoun pronoun adjective pro. pronoun

Turkish: ben ben-i ben-im ben-im English: I me my mine Turkish: sen sen-i sen-in sen-in English: you you your yours Turkish: o o-/n/u o-/n/un o-/n/un English: he, she, it him, her, it his, her, its his, hers, its Turkish: biz biz-i biz-im biz-im English: we us our ours Turkish: siz siz-i siz-in siz-in English: you you your yours Turkish: o-/n/lar o-/n/lar-ı o-/n/lar-ın o-/n/lar-ın English:: they them their theirs

If noticed, one can easily discover that the Turkish subjective pro-

nouns are the basic pronouns to produce the other pronouns in Turk-

ish. All kinds of pronouns in Turkish start with the subjective pronouns

ben, sen, o, biz, siz, or onlar, and to produce an objective

pronoun, you should attach one of the "i, ı, ü, u" allomorphs to

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

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subjective pronouns as suffıxes 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-ı” → (on*la*rı).

In English, however, all subjective pronouns change t o different

pronouns except for the subjective pronouns "you" and "it":

I → me; you → you; he → him; she → her; it → it; we → us; they

→ them. Subject pronouns are blue and object pronouns are black.

All the objective pronouns and additionally ojective proper nouns

are suffixed by the "i, ı, ü, u" allomorphs ın Turkish. For instance:

O ben-i gördü. He saw me. O Jack'i gördü. 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 gördü. Jack saw Mary.

Mary-i Jack gördü. 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 pronoun in Turkish, one should attach a

personal possessive allomorph to one of the subjective pro-

nouns in Turkish.

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The possessive personal allamorphs are purple as follows:

ben- im

sen-in

o- /n/un

biz-im

siz-in

onlar-ın

When these possessive pronouns are separated into syllables, the

single underlined consonants detach from their syllables and attach

to the following "im, in, un, im, in, ın" possessive allomorphs to

produce syllables. Such as:

“ben-im” → (be*nim), “sen-in” → (se*nin), “o-/n/un” → (o*nun),

“biz-im” → (bi*zim), “siz-in” → (si*zin), “onlar-ın” → (on*la*rın).

The Turkish possessive adjecives 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 pos-

sessive adjectives, this basic apostrophy ('s) rule changes into differ-

ent 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

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

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possessive 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 göz-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-ım" (be*nim / ki*ta*bım) (the book of mine), "your

house" "sen-ın 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 bahçe-/s/i", "his garden" "o-/n/un

bahçe-/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 nouns that carry the same meanings of the posses-

sive pronouns. For instance:

ben-im defter-im, ben-im kitap-ım, ben-im yüz-üm, ben-im okul-um,

ben-im baba-am, ben-im anne-em. (The identical vowels a-a and e-e

combine.)

In the expressions above, the "im", "ım", "üm", "um", "em", "am"

allo-morphs all mean "ben-im".

sen-in defter-in, sen-in yaş-ın, sen-in göz-ün, sen-in okul-un, sen-in

araba-an, sen-in çene-en.

In the expressions above, the "in, ın, ün, un, en, an" allomorphs all

mean "sen-in".

o-/n/un ev-i, o-/n/un baş-ı, o-/n/un yüz-ü, o-/n/un okul-u, o-/n/un anne-

/s/i, o--/n/un baba-/s/ı.

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In the expressions above, the "i, ı, ü, u" allomorphs mean "o-/n/un".

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-ım.ız (bi*zim / ma*lı*mız),

biz-im yüz-üm.üz (bi*zim / yü*zü*müz), biz-im yol-um.uz (bi*zim / yo*-

lu*muz), biz-im anne-em-iz (bi*zim / an*ne*miz), biz-im araba-am.ız

(bi*zim / a*ra*ba*mız).

In the expressions above, the "im.iz, ım.ız, üm.üz, um.uz, em.iz,

am.ız" allomorphs all mean "biz.im".

siz-in iş-in.iz, siz-in at-ın.ız, siz-in yüz-ün.üz, siz-in dost-un.uz, siz-in

korku-un.uz, siz-in tarla-an.ız, siz-in beleme-en.iz.

In the expressions above, the "in.iz, ın.ız, ün,üz, un.uz, an.ız, en.iz"

allomorphs all mean "siz-in".

onlar-ın iş-ler-i, onlar-ın baş-lar-ı, onlar-ın düş-ler-i onlar-ın yol-lar-ı

onlar-ın çalışma-lar-ı.

In the expressions above, the "ler-i, lar-ı" allomorphs all mean "onlar-

ın".

If a person thinks that the noun is singular, he does not need to use

the "ler, lar" plural allomorphs such as: "onlar-ın ev-i", "onlar-ın çaba-

/s/ı", "onlar-ın ülkü-/s/ü", "onlar-ın kuşku-/s/u".

As there is a possessive pronoun and a possessive allomorph

carrying the same meaning attached to a noun in such expressions,

one can use only the noun with the possessive allomorph attached to

it. Therefore "defter-im" means "my notebook", "kitap-ım" means "my

book", "yüz-üm" 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 = ...im, ...ım, ...üm, ...um, ...em, ...am

Sen-in = ...in, ...ın, ...ün, ...un, ...en, ...an

O/n/-un = ...i, ...ı, ...ü, ...u

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Biz-im = ...im.iz, ...ım.ız, ...üm.üz, ...um.uz, ...em.iz, ...am.ız

Siz-in = ...in.iz, ...ın.ız, ...ün.üz, ...un.uz, ...en.iz, ...an.ız

O/n/lar-ın = ...(ler).i, ...(lar).ı, ...ü, ...u

If a speaker or writer do not want to emphasize "benim, senin, onun,

bizim, sizin, onların" possessive pronouns, he could only use "defter-

im" instead of "ben-im defter-im"; "anne-en" istead of "sen-in anne-

en"; "baba-an" instead of "sen-in baba-an"; "okul-un" istead of "sen-in

okul-un"; "baba-/s/ı" instead of "o-/n/un baba-/s/ı", "ev-im.iz" instead

of "biz-im ev-ım.iz"; "korkular-ı" instead of "o/n/-lar-ın korku-lar-ı".

Common nouns, proper nouns and infinitives are used like the third

person possessive adjectives in Turkish:

"çalış-ma-/n/ın bit-me-/s/i" the end(ing) of working

"öğretmen-in gel-me-/s/i" the arrriving of the teacher

"Jack-in başarı-/s/ı" 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: Although there are a lot of irregular verbs, adjectives, adverbs

and nouns in English, all these words are rule governed in Turkish. If

you are interested in learning them, you could find them in my free

book tittled below on the internet:

“ENGLISH TURKISH GRAMMAR FUNCTIONAL AND TRANSFOR-

MATIONAL YUKSEL GOKNEL

”ENGLISH TURKISH GRAMMAR, FUNCTIONAL &

TRANSFORMATIONAL YUKSEL GOKNEL 2014-signed - Kısayol.lnk

ENGLISH AND TURKISH PRONOUNS

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