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The Turkish nominalizer -(y)Iş demonstrates a broad spectrum of functions ranging from a deverbal word-formation device that forms lexicalized nouns with concrete and abstract meanings to an inflectional marker used in nominal clauses, especially in clausal complementation. In some uses, the item conveys manner semantics. While the item itself has been variously investigated and forms an established part of any Turkish grammar description, there is still a lack of consensus on its functional and semantic properties. This article investigates the morphosyntactic functions and the semantic features of the nominalizer -(y)Iş in light of the claims in the linguistic literature on the one hand, which include manner, countable events, factive imperfective, single instance of an event, direct reference to the inner process of an action, etc., and of examples from primary sources on the other, and evaluates the findings from the perspective of grammaticalization. It will be argued that the range of functions of this item and the fact that it seems to resist any straightforward analysis result from its transition from a derivational marker to an inflectional marker with tasks including complementizer functions, a process in which manner semantics will be argued to play a role.

This article investigates complement clauses, i.e., clauses entering an argument slot of a complement taking predicate, in Ötämiš Ḥājjī's Čingiz-nāmä, a 16th century Middle Turkic text from Khiva which demonstrates Qipchaq linguistic features. Three major classes of complementation will be investigated: direct quotations, propositional-type complement clauses, and state of affairs-type complement clauses. The multitude of surface forms will be encoded into abstract structural types which enable structural comparison. The aim is to establish the inventories of expression types for each class, to give representative examples for each type, and to compare the typological inventories. Besides the formal aspects, semantic issues are investigated as well. The aim of the paper is to provide data for synchronic comparison, and ultimately to contribute to our understanding of the evolution of the variation in clausal complementation among the Modern Turkic languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructions encoding 'to begin to' display a great formal diversity in the Turkic languages. The differences concern both the auxiliary segment and the linking segment. This diversity is counterbalanced by certain features that are shared either by the majority of the Turkic language family or by only some of its members. The present study will investigate the main similarities and differences between inceptive constructions in Turkic both from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. A special focus will be placed on combinations that involve the auxiliary bašla-, an item that is particularly widespread. The main types of constructions attested with this auxiliary will be identified, and possible factors involved in the development of these types will be determined. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the typology and diachronic development of inceptive constructions in the Turkic languages and to draw attention to a topic that has yet to be investigated in detail from a comparative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The present paper aims to register the principal morphological and morphosyntactic items of the Manchu language that encode modal notions and to propose a functional and semantic classification for them. The inventory of items is classified according to three functional categories which are determined by their relationship to aspect within a hierarchy of scope. The position of a given modal item in the scope hierarchy is established by testing whether it is combinable with aspect, and if so, whether the modal item operates on aspect or forms part of the operandum of aspect. The three functional modal categories, which are also mutually distinct in terms of basic semantic properties, are investigated with regard to their internal semantic design. It will be suggested that while the domain of event modality can be adequately described with received theories of modality, the other semantic classes call for alternative approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]