THE SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS OF -IP CLAUSES

Abstract

-Ip is a converbial suffix in Turkish that contributes to the interpretation of the sentence in various ways. Yet the suffix has no semantic content of itself. Although it has been traced back to Orkhon Inscriptions there has been little research into its syntactic position, semantic correlates and internal structure. The overwhelming conception about the function of -Ip is that it appears in coordinated clauses. This paper aims to survey where -Ip clauses are adjoined to the sentence and how any adjunction point affects its semantic interpretation. The results indicate that -Ip clauses can be embedded in the main clause in such a way that they form serial verbs while it can also appear in constructions coordinating two independent clauses. The paper also aims to reveal argument sharing behaviours of these clauses, thus sheding light on the null/overt subjects and objects of -Ip clauses.