EVENT MODALITY IN BALKAN TURKISH: FORMAL AND SEMANTIC VARIATION IN CONTACT Part 1. Possibility and Necessity
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Published:
Jun 23, 2025
Keywords:
dialectology, semantics, morphosyntax, complementation patterns
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Abstract
The present article constitutes the first part of a two-part study on event modality in selected Turkish varieties of Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Eastern Thrace (Turkey). The linguistic structures will be compared with corresponding expressions in Modern Standard Turkish and pre-modern Ottoman Turkish varieties. The study identifies both common features and differences among the Balkan Turkish varieties. Variation occurs in different slots within the investigated constructions and concerns lexical, semantic and morphosyntactic features, including complementation patterns, where both infinitive and subjunctive structures can be found. The linguistic variation is partly dialect-specific and distributed differently among the eastern and western dialects of Balkan Turkish, but intra-dialectal variation is also observed. It will be argued that while some processes that have led to the present situation in Balkan Turkish may be attributed to internal developments of inherited structures and to universal tendencies, impact of language contact has also contributed to the distribution of certain structures within the Turkish dialects of the Balkans.
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Rentzsch , Julian. 2025. “EVENT MODALITY IN BALKAN TURKISH: FORMAL AND SEMANTIC VARIATION IN CONTACT”. Journal of Contemporary Philology 8 (1), 85-106. https://doi.org/10.37834/JCP258185r.
Section
Special Issue -Dedicated to the study of the Balkan languages
Copyright © 2014 Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, Skopje
Journal of Contemporary Philology (JCP)
Современа филологија
References
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Adakale, gesammelt, in Transkription herausgegeben und mit Einleitung versehen. Leipzig /New
York: Rudolf Haupt.
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Menz, A. (1999). Gagausische Syntax. Eine Studie zum kontaktinduzierten Sprachwandel. (Turcologica
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Mitkovska, L., Bužarovska, E. (2012). Tipovi modalnost vo nemenlivite ima da-konstrukcii.
Makedonski jazik, LXIII: 83–103.
Mustafa-Rashidova, S. (2024). Bulgaristan’daki Orta Rodop Türk Ağızlarının Fonetik, Morfolojik ve
Sentaktik Özellikleri. PhD dissertation. İstanbul Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
Németh, J. (1956). Zur Einteilung der türkischen Mundarten Bulgariens. Sofia: Bulgarische Akademie
der Wissenschaften.
Németh, J. (1965). Die Türken von Vidin. Sprache, Folklore, Religion. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
Noonan, M. (2007). Complementation. In T. Shopen (ed.). Language typology and syntactic
description. Vol. 2: Complex constructions, 52–150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Özbal, M. (2005). Peçevī Tarihi. 80b–114a metin, edisyon kritik, dizin, özel adlar sözlüğü. MA thesis.
Marmara Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
Palmer, F. R. (2001). Mood and modality. (Second edition.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pamuk, O. (1990 [2004]). Kara Kitap. İstanbul: İletişim.
Pamuk O. (2008 [2018]). Masumiyet Müzesi. İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Rentzsch, J. (2014). Zur Rolle der Analogie in der Grammatikalisierung türkischer Modalauxiliare. In
N. Demir, B. Karakoç and A. Menz (eds.). Turcology and Linguistics. Éva Ágnes Csató Festschrift,
357–374. Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayınları.
Rentzsch, J. (2015). Modality in the Turkic languages. Form and meaning from a historical and
comparative perspective. [Studien zur Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der Turkvölker 18]. Berlin:
Klaus Schwarz Verlag.
Rentzsch, J. (2018). SoA-type complement clauses in the Tārīḫ-i Pečevī. In É. Á. Csató, J. Parslow, E.
Türker and E. Wigen (eds.). Building bridges to Turkish. Essays in honour of Bernt Brendemoen.
(Turcologica 116), 265–284. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Rentzsch, J., Mitkovska, L. and Nedelkoska, G. (2020). Complementation strategies with the verb ‘to
know’ in the Turkish dialect of Ohrid compared to Standard Turkish and Macedonian. Turkic
Languages, 24 (1): 78–109.
Römer, C. (2012). On some peculiar datives in colloquial Middle Ottoman texts. In T. Kahl, M.
Metzeltin and H. Schaller (eds.). Balkanismen heute – Balkanisms today – Balkanizmy segodnja.
(Balkanologie. Beiträge zur Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft 3), 185–194. Münster: LIT.
Şafak, E. (2009). Aşk. İstanbul: Doğan Kitap.
Schaendlinger, A. C. (1972). Die Probleme der Redaktionen der Chronik des Ibrāhīm Pečevī (Pečuylu).
Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 63/64: 176–186.
Tanpınar, A. H. (1973 [1999]). Sahnenin Dışındakiler. İstanbul: Dergâh Yayınları.
Tosun, İ. (2003). Tekirdağ Merkez İlçe ve Köyleri Ağızları. MA thesis. Trakya Üniversitesi, Edirne.
of cognitive linguistics, 782–802. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ahmed, O. (2001). Fonetički i leksički karakteristiki na turskiot govor vo Resen i Resensko. MA thesis,
UKIM, Skopje.
Ahmed, O. (2004). Morfosintaksa na turskite govori od ohridsko-prespanskiot region. PhD dissertation,
UKIM, Skopje.
Alievska, M. (2003). Ženata kako lik vo turskite narodni prikazni od prilepsko i bitolsko. MA thesis,
UKIM, Skopje.
Auwera, van der, J. and Plungian, V. A. (1998). Modality’s semantic map. Linguistic Typology, 2: 79
124.
Brendemoen, B. (2013). The infinitive in -me/-ma in the Balkan dialects. Turkic languages, 17: 31–37.
Brendemoen, B. (2014). Some remarks on the infinitive in -mA in 17th century Ottoman Turkish. In N.
Demir, B. Karakoç and A. Menz (eds.), Turcology and Linguistics. Éva Ágnes Csató Festschrift,
103–113. Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayınları.
Buchholz, O. and Fiedler, W. (1987). Albanische Grammatik. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie.
Dixon, R.M.W. (2006). Complement clauses and complementation strategies in typological
perspective. In R.M.W. Dixon, and A. Y. Aikhenvald (eds.), Complementation. A cross-linguistic
typology, 1–48. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Doerfer, G. (1990). Die Stellung des Osmanischen im Kreise des Oghusischen und seine Vorgeschichte.
In G. Hazai (ed.), Handbuch der türkischen Sprachwissenschaft. Teil 1, 13–34. Budapest:
Akadémiai Kiadó.
Eckmann, J. (1962). Kumanova (Makedonya) Türk Ağzı. In J. Eckmann, A. S. Levend, and M.
Mansuroğlu (eds.). Németh Armağanı. (Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları 191), 111–144. Ankara: Türk
Tarih Kurumu Basımevi.
Erdem, M. D., İsmaili, B., Beyoğlu, B. and Bölük, R. (2024). Kuzey Makedonya Türk Ağızları. Giriş
İnceleme-Metinler. Elazığ: Asos Yayınları.
Friedman, V. A. (2003). Turkish in Macedonia and beyond. Studies in contact, typology and other
phenomena in the Balkans and the Caucasus. (Turcologica 52.) Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Friedman, V. A. (2006). West Rumelian Turkish in Macedonia and adjacent areas. In: H. Boeschoten
and L. Johanson (eds.). Turkic languages in contact. (Turcologica 61), 27–45. Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz.
Göksel, A. and Kerslake, C. (2005). Turkish. A comprehensive grammar. London /New York:
Routledge.
Hafız, N. (1985). Kosova Türk Halk Edebiyatı Metinleri. Priştine: Kosova Üniversitesi Priştine Felsefe
Fakültesi.
Haspelmath, M. (1989). From purposive to infinitive – a universal path of grammaticalization. Folia
Linguistica Historica, 10/1–2: 287–310.
Hazai, G. (1973). Das Osmanisch-Türkische im XVII. Jahrhundert. Untersuchungen an den
Transkriptionstexten von Jakab Nagy de Harsány. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
Hazai, G. and Tietze, A. (eds.) (2006). Ferec ba‘d eş-şidde. “Freud nach Leid”. Ein frühosmanisches
Geschichtenbuch. (Studien zur Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der Türkvölker 5.1–5.2.) Berlin:
Klaus Schwarz Verlag.
İgci, A. (2010). Vıçıtırın-Kosova Türk Ağzı. MA thesis. Ege Üniversitesi, İzmir.
Joseph, B. D. (1983). The synchrony and diachrony of the Balkan infinitive. A study in areal, general,
and historical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kakuk, S. (1972). Le dialecte Turc d’Ohrid en Macédonie. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum
Hungaricae, 26: 227–282.
Kalay, E. (1998). Edirne İli Ağızları. İnceleme-Metin. (TDK Yayınları 694). Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu.
Karaşinik, B. (2011). Silistre (Silistra) İli ve Yöresi Ağızları. MA thesis. Trakya Üniversitesi, Edirne.
Koneski, B. (1967). Grammatika na makedonskiot literaturen jazik. Skopje: Kultura.
Kúnos, I. (1907). Materialien zur Kenntnis des rumelischen Türkisch. I: Türkische Volksmärchen aus
Adakale, gesammelt, in Transkription herausgegeben und mit Einleitung versehen. Leipzig /New
York: Rudolf Haupt.
Lewis, G. L. (1967). Turkish grammar. Oxford /New York: Oxford University Press.
Menz, A. (1999). Gagausische Syntax. Eine Studie zum kontaktinduzierten Sprachwandel. (Turcologica
41). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Mitkovska, L., Bužarovska, E. (2012). Tipovi modalnost vo nemenlivite ima da-konstrukcii.
Makedonski jazik, LXIII: 83–103.
Mustafa-Rashidova, S. (2024). Bulgaristan’daki Orta Rodop Türk Ağızlarının Fonetik, Morfolojik ve
Sentaktik Özellikleri. PhD dissertation. İstanbul Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
Németh, J. (1956). Zur Einteilung der türkischen Mundarten Bulgariens. Sofia: Bulgarische Akademie
der Wissenschaften.
Németh, J. (1965). Die Türken von Vidin. Sprache, Folklore, Religion. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
Noonan, M. (2007). Complementation. In T. Shopen (ed.). Language typology and syntactic
description. Vol. 2: Complex constructions, 52–150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Özbal, M. (2005). Peçevī Tarihi. 80b–114a metin, edisyon kritik, dizin, özel adlar sözlüğü. MA thesis.
Marmara Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
Palmer, F. R. (2001). Mood and modality. (Second edition.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pamuk, O. (1990 [2004]). Kara Kitap. İstanbul: İletişim.
Pamuk O. (2008 [2018]). Masumiyet Müzesi. İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Rentzsch, J. (2014). Zur Rolle der Analogie in der Grammatikalisierung türkischer Modalauxiliare. In
N. Demir, B. Karakoç and A. Menz (eds.). Turcology and Linguistics. Éva Ágnes Csató Festschrift,
357–374. Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayınları.
Rentzsch, J. (2015). Modality in the Turkic languages. Form and meaning from a historical and
comparative perspective. [Studien zur Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der Turkvölker 18]. Berlin:
Klaus Schwarz Verlag.
Rentzsch, J. (2018). SoA-type complement clauses in the Tārīḫ-i Pečevī. In É. Á. Csató, J. Parslow, E.
Türker and E. Wigen (eds.). Building bridges to Turkish. Essays in honour of Bernt Brendemoen.
(Turcologica 116), 265–284. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Rentzsch, J., Mitkovska, L. and Nedelkoska, G. (2020). Complementation strategies with the verb ‘to
know’ in the Turkish dialect of Ohrid compared to Standard Turkish and Macedonian. Turkic
Languages, 24 (1): 78–109.
Römer, C. (2012). On some peculiar datives in colloquial Middle Ottoman texts. In T. Kahl, M.
Metzeltin and H. Schaller (eds.). Balkanismen heute – Balkanisms today – Balkanizmy segodnja.
(Balkanologie. Beiträge zur Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft 3), 185–194. Münster: LIT.
Şafak, E. (2009). Aşk. İstanbul: Doğan Kitap.
Schaendlinger, A. C. (1972). Die Probleme der Redaktionen der Chronik des Ibrāhīm Pečevī (Pečuylu).
Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 63/64: 176–186.
Tanpınar, A. H. (1973 [1999]). Sahnenin Dışındakiler. İstanbul: Dergâh Yayınları.
Tosun, İ. (2003). Tekirdağ Merkez İlçe ve Köyleri Ağızları. MA thesis. Trakya Üniversitesi, Edirne.