COMPREHENSION OF COMPOUND NOUNS BY TURKISH SPEAKING PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN

Birleşik isim oluşturma iki kelimeden yeni bir kelime türetme sürecidir. Downing'in (1977) ifade ettiği gibi bu süreç zihinsel sözlük için arka kapı olarak görülebilir (Downing 1977 cited in Özer and Hohenberger, 2011). Bu sürecin zihinsel sözlük üzerine etkisini ve önemini göz önüne alarak çalışmanın amacı, okul öncesi Türk çocuklarının anlamını kaybetmiş ve kaybetmemiş birleşik isimleri kavrayışlarını araştırmaktır. 11 kız ve 11 erkek olmak üzere toplam 22 katılımcı yaşlarına göre iki gruba ayrılmıştır. Birinci yaş grubu 6'sı kız, 5'i erkek olmak üzere toplam 11 çocuktan oluşmaktadır. Bu gruptaki çocukların yaş ortalaması 2;7' dir. İkinci grupta ise yaş ortalaması 3;8 olan 6'sı erkek 5'i kız olmak üzere toplamda 11 çocuk bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışmadaki veriler anlamsal olarak sınıflandırılmış 20 Türkçe birleşik isimi içeren kavrama testi aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Sonuçta, çalışma literatüre paralel olarak yaşın birleşik isimleri kavramada etkisi olduğunu göstermiştir. Genel olarak iki farklı tür birleşik isimleri kavramada ortalama yaşı 2;7 olan çocuklar ortalama yaşı 3;8 olan çocukların gerisinde kalmıştır. Ayrıca, her iki yaş grubundaki çocukların anlamını kaybetmemiş birleşik isimleri, anlamını kaybetmiş birleşik isimlerden daha iyi kavradıkları gözlemlenmiştir. Türkçe'de birleşik isimlerin edinilmesi üzerine yapılan araştırmalar sadece Türk dilbilimine değil, aynı zamanda karşılaştırmalı dilbilim çalışmalarının da yapılabilmesine katkıda bulunabilir; çünkü, birleşik isimlerin oluşturulma süreci zihinsel sözlüğe yeni bir pencere açabilir

OKUL ÖNCESİ TÜRK ÇOCUKLARININ BİRLEŞİK İSİMLERİ KAVRAYIŞI

Compounding is the process of forming a new word from two words. The process of compounding can be seen as a back door to the mental lexicon, as Downing (1977) stated (Downing 1977 cited in Özer and Hohenberger, 2011). Taking the importance of the process in the mental lexicon into consideration, the aim of the present study is to investigate Turkish preschool children’s comprehension of two different kinds of compound nouns: transparent compounds and opaque compounds. The participants including 22 children (11 male and 11 female) were categorized under two groups according to their ages. The first age group included 11 children (6 female and 5 male) whose mean age is 2;7 while the second age group consisted of 11 children ( 6 male and 5 female) whose mean age is 3;8. The study was carried out by means of a comprehension task including 20 Turkish compound nouns that were categorized semantically. The results pointed to the effect of age on comprehension of compound nouns, in conformity with literature. Overall, 2;7 year-old children lagged behind 3;8 year-old children with respect to comprehension of two different kinds of compound nouns. Also, the findings of the study unveiled the fact that both age groups were able to comprehend transparent compound nouns significantly more than opaque compound nouns. The research conducted on the acquisition of compound nouns in Turkish can contribute to not only Turkish linguistics but also cross-linguistic studies by paving the way for the comparative studies since the process of compounding might open a new window into the mental lexicon

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