Slick, tricky ones...

Ambiguous only when spoken...

If you hear us say:

Odamaç

I

kt

I

.

(as if it were a single word, with no noticeable break between

syllables)

Do you think we mean:

a)

Odam aç

I

kt

I

;

My room was opened

, or

b)

Odama ç

I

kt

I

;

He went up to my room...

Ambiguous when written

or

spoken...

If we write (or say):

H

I

rs

I

z bakan

I

n odas

I

na girdi

.

Do you think we mean:

a)

H

I

rs

I

z

[with a break here]

bakan

I

n odas

I

na girdi

;

The thief entered the room of the minister

,

or...

b)

H

I

rs

I

z bakan

I

n odas

I

na

[with a break here]

girdi

;

She

(or he)

entered the room of the thieving minister!

Can you tell which meanings reflect the speaker's (writer's) thoughts?

Jump over to the

Avoiding Ambiguities

page -- to find out...

How's the following spelling ambiguity strike you...?

[the dashes are shown below just for clarity]

1.

el means hand

2.

el-i means his hand

3.

el-i-n-de

means in his hand

4.

el-in means your hand

5.

el-in-de

means in your hand...

That's

the same Turkish spelling

as item 3, but

a

different meaning

!

Not a very big difference in meaning, you say? Well, 'spose

gold bullion

was the

subject -- in his or your hand. Then would it make a difference?

Mix-up between varmak; to arrive ...

and var; there exists

In written Turkish, you are justified in doing a double take
upon seeing the word

vard

I

--

and any other such verb tense

constructions that may be based on the verb varmak; to arrive or
var; he/she/it exists

.

For, by itself like that,

vard

I

can mean

either

he arrived (the

past tense of varmak)

or

there existed

["there was"]

-- the latter

meaning of

vard

I

arising from a concatenation of the word var plus

the word idi

. So you have to rely on the context of a written

sentence to tell the difference between meanings.

Thus, the meaning of

vard

I

is clear only when seen in the

context of the following example sentences...

Saat dokuzda

vard

I

;

He arrived

at nine o'clock.

Masada bir kitap

vard

I

;

There was

(There existed)

a book on

the table.

A similar ambiguity arises with all the Turkish nouns. For
example, consider the noun

adam

;

man

and the two possible

meanings which arise when the suffix

-im

is applied --

1)

adam

I

m

; my man

2)

adam

I

m

; I am a man.

Not until the word is securely wrapped in a sentence does the
meaning become clear...

Adam

I

m

I

severim; I love

my man

.

Halden anl

I

yan bir

adam

I

m

;

I am a man

of the world.

Still another example of this sort of ambiguity arises with all
the Turkish verbs...For example, take the verbal derivative

yuzme

. You can't say for sure what it means until you see

how the word is used in a sentence...

Kirli suda

yuzme

;

Don't swim

in dirty water.

Yuzme

havuzu icine düstü; She fell into the

swimming

pool.

In speech, you get a further clue

(in addition to the sentence context)

to help you differentiate between ambiguous meanings -- but
you'll need to listen very carefully.

Take the example with

vard

I

above. When you listen and

you hear the accent on the

first

syllable

var

, then the word

means there is. And when you hear the accent on the

second

syllable

d

I

then the word means he arrived.

Don't underestimate this ambiguity...Var is a very important Turkish word in it's
own right that literally means there exists, but which also has connotations of
there is, I have, you have, he/she/it has, we have, they have, I own, you own, etc.
And, along with yok and sey is one of the most used words in the Turkish
language.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка

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