On the nature of anaphoric expressions kendi/ kendisi and the clause structure of Turkish

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the distributional differences between the third person singular reflexive kendi and its variant kendi-si “him/her-self + 3SGPOSS” in Turkish within the assumptions of the Binding Theory and provides an analysis that accounts for the referent choice in view of the clause structure of Turkish. Kendi is observed to be an anaphor which obeys Condition A of the Binding Theory since it is bound by a c-commanding antecedent in its minimal domain. Given that kendi is not subject oriented in Turkish, a derivational account of the binding facts that hold between the two VP-internal arguments of ditransitive constructions is proposed. Also, based on the event structures and morphological properties of postpositions, a three-way distinction among postpositional phrases is suggested. It is assumed that there is an Operator related to the event structures of a certain group of bare postpositions and the Operator renders the PP an opaque domain for binding. Moreover, the morphological properties of possessive marked PPs provide evidence for the DP analysis which accounts for the distribution of kendi and kendisi as their complement since DP creates an opaque domain. Regarding the locality and the domain of binding in Turkish, it is argue that nominalized clauses with –DIK and –MA, ECM clauses with (strong) agreement and relative clauses are CPs as opposed to Control structures, ECM constructions without agreement and adjunct clauses. From a minimalist perspective, it is claimed that nominal agreement as well as verbal agreement is realized as a feature on the C head. Based on the empirical evidence, the minimal binding domain in Turkish is proposed to be CP which is assumed to be an instance of agreement feature on the C head. For the nature of kendisi, however, it is observed kendisi does not conform to the predictions of local binding; it has a dual nature exhibiting both anaphoric and pronominal properties as well as being sensitive to the discourse conditions. DP analysis of kendisi with a pro on its specifier licensed by {-sI} morpheme enables long-distance binding as well as local antecedents and discourse binders of kendisi which is the topic in the discourse.