COMPLEX SENTENCES: NOUN CLAUSES, RELATİVE CLAUSES, ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

A sentence may consist of one single clause or two, three clauses. 

There are two types of clauses such as independent and dependent clauses.

If a clause cannot stand on its own, it is said to be a dependent clause (e.g. Ahmet’in geldiği).

If a clause stands on its own, it is said to be an independent clause (e.g. Ahmet geldi).

We have a single independent clause. [e.g.Ben Ali’yi okulda gördüm.] SINGLE CLAUSE.  This type of a single clause is known as a simple sentence.

This sentence ( e.g.[Ben Ali’yi okulda gördüm] ve [pro. onunla konuştum]. TWO INDEPENDENT CLAUSES ) consists of two clauses which are at equal level syntactically. They are combined with the conjunction ve. Note that the conjunction and the two independent clauses are sisters of each other. This shows that these two clauses are separate and they are both independent clauses with equal importance and rank.

Coordination and subordination are two ways of generating sentences with more than one clause. In coordination the clauses that are linked are of equal grammatical status (i.e. both are independent clauses). On the other hand, in subordination one clause functions as part of another (i.e. dependent clause). This dependent clause is known as the subordinated or embedded clause. The other is the independent clause that subordinates the dependent clause; and it is known as the main or matrix clause. Subordination is also called embedding, because one clause is embedded under the other.

In Turkish, subordinate clauses are linked to the main clause by attaching some bound morphemes at the stem of the embedded verb. Some subordinating morphemes that are used to subordinate or embed one clause under another are as in the following:

-DIK, - yEcEk, -mE, -yIş, –mEk. –mIş, etc.

These subordinating morphemes are attached at the end of the verb stem in the
embedded clause, such as gör-DÜĞ- ümüz.

Subordinate clauses that form complex sentences are noun clauses, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses.

Noun clauses are subordinate clauses which have the same distribution with
Noun Phrases. They can function as subjects, objects, objects of postpositions, and they can be adverbials, just like NPs. In Noun Clauses subordinate suffixes are added at the end of the subordinating verb stem. These suffixes are: –DIk, –EcEk, –(y)Iş, –mE, and –mEK.

The difference between NPs and NCs, however, is that NPs have head nouns; while NCs have a subject-predicate (NP-VP) structure.

The verb in the matrix clause determines the type of its object NC. There are verbs that select subject control infinitival clauses as well as those that select object control clauses. These verbs are said to be subject control verbs and object control verbs, respectively. Some subject control verbs are istemek, denemek, söz vermek, sıkılmak, bıkmak, nefret etmek, hoşlanmak, başlamak, bayılmak, sevmek, tercih etmek, söz vermek, karar vermek, etc. Some object control verbs are zorlamak, ikna etmek, suçlamak, yasaklamak, etc.

Relative clauses (RCs) serve to provide additional information about the noun they modify, but are not required for the completion of the noun’s meaning. Relative clauses are on a par with adjectives in their relationship with the head noun, and are sometimes called adjectival clauses, in parallel to adverbial clauses which are adjuncts to VPs or sentences.

Turkish has restrictive and nonrestrictive RCs, as well as headless RCs.

1. Restrictive relative clauses (RRCs) are those which restrict the denotation of the head noun.

2. Non-restrictive Relative Claues (NRC) do not limit the denotation of the head noun, but they add extra, optional information about the head noun.

It can be explained as a sample given below.

144. [NP Her kim [RC ki bu işi yapar]] sonuçlarına da katlanır.

The borrowed word ki is also used as a subordinating word that allows independent clauses to function as RCs in Turkish. The independent clause with ki above is an RC because it modifies and restricts the denotation of the head noun her kim. Note that the independent RC above comes after the head noun unlike other RCs in Turkish. Remember that Turkish is a head final language and the head noun must be at NP final position. The subordinating word ki is borrowed from Persian, which is an Indo-European language like English. Turkish also borrowed the word order of RCs of this language when it borrowed ki. Sentences like (144), thus, mirror the syntax of Indo-European languages. In these languages, the head noun comes before the head noun, as in (144).

In English, NRCs are separated by commas. Furthermore, English NRCs are phonologically located in a separate intonation contour, while RRCs are located in the same intonation contour as their head nouns. This is why the former type is separated orthographically by commas.

In Turkish, we do not have such formal distinctions between RRCs or NRCs, such as punctuation (e.g. as commas in English) or by the choice of the relativizer.

The RC in (151) is a RRC because it helps us to identify the girl. There may be other girls in the environment.

The RC in (152), however, is a NRC because there is only one Sun, at least in our planet. Thus, we do not need to distinguish one sun among others. NRCs are not used to select a subset of some group.

There are relative clauses which do not have overt head nouns in Turkish. We will not discuss them in detail. Suffice it to say that they can be seen in two contexts:

When the head noun is indefinite or non-referential, as in the examples below, even if the head noun is used, it must be either insan, kişi, kimse, biri, şey, etc. depending on whether the intended head is a human or a thing.

153. [RC Arayan soran] oldu mu?
154. [RC Çankaya’da inecek] var mı?
155. [RC Son gülen] iyi güler.

The clauses which are used to modify VPs or sentences are called Adverbial Clauses because they function as adverbials. Adv.Cs are extremely heterogenous both morphologically and syntactically. This is because they take various kinds of morphemes such as -ErEk, -IncE, -dığında, among others. Besides, they have different kinds of structure.
For example, Adv.Cs may include control structures, as in the following example:

158. Ali [Adv.C PRO  koşarak] geldi.
Adv.Cs may also have a different subject than that of the matrix clause: