On Phrasal and Prepositional Verb Projections in Turkish

Abstract

Radford (1988: p. 101) differentiated between the phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs on both conceptual and empirical grounds. He suggested eight different tests with respect to their empirical dimensions. The aim of the study is to seek an answer to the question as to whether there is a distinction between these two kinds of verbs within the framework of the tests of Radford (1988) which are applicable to Turkish data (e.g. scrambling, sentence fragment and adverb placement) and the tests we have suggested (preposition alteration, cleft structures and synonymy). The subsidiary aim of the study is to observe the theoretical implications of such a distinction with respect to the discussions over the question as to whether PPs do really constitute a phase in the sense of Chomsky (2001 & subsequent studies). As for the first question, the first intuitional observations show that there is a distinction between such verb phrases as “karşi·çik-” (lit. to stand against), and “karçisina·çik-” (lit. to stand in front of sb.) on semantic grounds. The empirical tests also show that phrasal verbs do exist in Turkish unlike the common view in literature, and that they behave in a different manner than prepositional verbs. Depending on the above-stated empirical tests and intuitive judgments, this distinction may also provide insights as to the phasehood of PPs in that the agreeing PPs in Turkish can constitute phases while the bare PPs cannot.