On the teaching of -mIş to foreign learners of Turkish

Bu çalışmada Türkçe öğrenen ve anadili Yunanca olan öğrencilerin –mIş tanıtsallık belirticisini kendi aradillerinde en iyi şekilde içselleştirmelerinin ve kullanmalarının yolları araştırılmaktadır. Türkçede tanıtsallık, anlamsal olarak oldukça kapsamlı ve bugüne kadar çok tartışılan bir olgu olan –mIş eki (Slobin ve Aksu, 1982; Johanson, 2003; Uzun, 2004; Gül, 2009; ve diğerleri) ile kodlanırken, Yunancada tanıtsallık dilbilgisel ulamıbulunmamaktadır. Gerektiğinde, tanıtsallık όpos akústike/maθèftike/ lèγete (duyulduğuna / öğrenildiğine / söylendiğine göre) gibi sözlüksel ifadelerle (Ifantidou, 2001), arkasından istek kipinde çekimli bir yantümce gelen kişisiz eylem πρέπει (zorunda olmak) ile (Holton et al., 2012), ya da konuşmacının bilgiye karşı tutumunu, şüphesini ya da kaçınmasını ifade eden ve “iddia edildiğine göre, söylendiğine göre” (Friedman, 2003), anlamlarını içeren bir parçacık olan λέει (diyor) ile ifade edilir. On yıllık öğretim deneyimine dayanarak, Yunancada tanıtsallık dilbilgisel ulamının bulunmamasının, -mIş ekinin geniş kapsamı ile birlikte Türkçe öğrenen ve anadili Yunanca olan öğrenciler için büyük bir zorluk kaynağı olduğu belirlenmiştir. Buna dayanarak, çalışma üç eksen etrafında yürütülmüştür. Öncelikle, -mIş ile ilgili tartışmalara değinilmiş ve Türkçe yabancı dil olarak öğretilirken öğreniminde ve öğretiminde –mIş tanımının neleri içermesi gerektiği üzerinde durulmuştur. Daha sonra, Akdeniz İncelemeleri Bölümü’ndeki Türkçe öğrencilerine uygulanan bir test sonucu, anadili Yunanca olan öğrencilerin -mIş hakkındaki (yanlış) kanıları saptanmıştır. Son olarak, çalışmada Türkçenin yabancı dil olarak öğretiminde –mIş hakkında materyal hazırlarken göz önünde bulundurulması gereken noktalara dikkat çekilmiştir.

The present study explores the ways in which the Greekspeaking learners of Turkish can best internalize and consequently use the evidential marker –mIş in their interlanguage. Turkish encodes evidentiality by the verbal suffi x –mIş, which is a semantically broad and highly debated phenomenon (Slobin and Aksu, 1982; Johanson, 2003; Uzun, 2004; Gül, 2009; among many others). Greek lacks the grammatical category of evidentiality; when necessary, it makes use of lexical expressions such as όpos akústike/maθèftike/ lèγete etc. (it has been heard/known/said) (Ifantidou, 2001), the impersonal modal verb prèpei (must) followed by a complement clause in the subjunctive (Holton et al., 2012) or the particle lèi (one says) meaning ‘reportedly, allegedly’ (Friedman, 2003), expressing the speaker’s hedging, doubt, and attitude to information. On the basis of a ten-year teaching experience, we identifi ed that the lack of the grammatical category of evidentiality in Greek, along with the broad scope of –mIş itself, is the source of major diffi culty for the Greek-speaking learners of Turkish. The study revolves about three axes. Firstly, it presents the relevant discussion on –mIş and determines what should be included in its description in terms of learning and teaching Turkish as a foreign language. It then continues with the presentation and analysis of the (false) conclusions about –mIş reached by the Greek-speaking learners of Turkish, obtained through a test applied to learners of Turkish in the Department of Mediterranean Studies. Finally, the study suggests some directions for continuing the inquiry in designing materials in the teaching of –mIş to foreign learners of Turkish.

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