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A corpus analysis of multiple negation in Turkish
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2019., 2019.) Özbey, Can.; Akar, Didar.
This study investigates double negative constructions (DNCs) in Turkish that incorporate an inner verbal negation followed by an outer sentential negation with respect to their pragmatic properties in a general corpus linguistics framework. In order to find such marked constructions, we have compiled a corpus and conducted a collocational analysis to observe which tense, agreement marker, verbs and discourse markers that follow the sentential negation operator değil are more prevailingly employed in DNCs. The asymmetrical distribution of DNCs in the context of specific grammatical and lexical elements designates the use of multiple negation as a mitigation device. Such contexts in which multiple negation leads to understatement are revealed by an elaborate empirical investigation, which indicates that the use of impersonalization and certain type of lexical elements are significantly affiliated with multiple negation. It is observed that the verbs and the majority of post-değil elements are semantically associated with the cognitive, perceptive or emotive stance of the author. The correlation between impersonalization and particular semantic characteristics of the lexical items constitutes a strong basis in explaining the pragmatic effects of the phenomenon of multiple negation.
A tripartite division of stative verbs in Turkish
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2018., 2018.) Kısa Kaz, Nagihan.; Akar, Didar.; Erguvanlı-Taylan, Eser.
This thesis investigates the semantic and syntactic behavior of stative verbs in Turkish in the light of two recent analyses, namely Maienborn (2005, 2007) and Rothmayr (2009). It proposes a tripartite division for stative verbs in Turkish: (i) Kimian states (K-states), (ii) Davidsonian states (D-states), the distinction already drawn by Maienborn (2005, 2007) and (iii) Equivocal states (E-states). Evidence for this division comes from both the existing tools in the literature and new tools suggested in this study. In new tools, based on the (in)compatibility of stative verbs with two post-verbs -(y)Adur and -(y)Iver and two converbial suffixes forming adverbial clauses -(y)A…(y)A and -(A/I)r….-mAz, all of which convey certain aspectual information, the tripartite division of stative verbs in Turkish is further supported. It is argued that the distribution of -(y)Adur and -(y)A…(y)A in stative verbs indicates K-states/D-states division manifest itself in Turkish such that K-states are incompatible with both units, whereas D-states are compatible with them. On the other hand, the distribution of -(y)Iver and -(A/I)r….-mAz in stative verbs shows these units are incompatible with stative verbs under stative interpretation, which validates all the types are stative. A further type to this bipartite division is suggested, namely E-states, by showing E-states are likely to be ambiguous between stative and achievement reading. They can be disambiguated via adverbial use, and therefore are highly context-dependent. The equivocal nature of E-states shows itself especially when E-states occur with -(y)Iver and -(A/I)r….-mAz since E-states are compatible with both units, but only under an achievement reading.
Ambivalent belongings: a discourse analysis of second generation Cretan immigrants in Cunda
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2011., 2011.) Kaya, Neşe.; Akar, Didar.
This thesis analyzes the discourse of second generation Cretan immigrants whose forefathers were forcibly relocated to Cunda via the population exchange between Greece and the Republic of Turkey in 1924. The aim is to analyze the identity construction of the second generation Cretan immigrants to understand their positioning in relation to the migration, migrancy and to the “others” and to reveal the situational, social, historical and political processes that influence and frame their identity formation. In the analysis, we focus on the choice of grammatical voice, pronouns and vocabulary seeking to link the analysis at the level of language with the historical, political and cultural contexts and the discourses and the ideologies in action. A strongly felt ambivalence regarding the issues above emerges as the strongest characteristic of the data. The migration is represented as both “compulsory” and “voluntary” depending on particular contexts. We also observe that the population exchange is set as a milestone in the lives of the immigrants keeping its profound impact. The most frequently raised aspect of identity is ethnicity, specifically “Turkish” and “Cretan”. The participants position themselves as both Turkish and Cretan switching from one to the other as required by the immediate interactional context. In addition, the ambivalence that the second generation immigrants display is also linked to the historical, political and cultural contexts, the other discourses and ideologies in action.
Direct reported speech: positioning and relational identity work
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2010., 2010.) İkizoğlu, Didem.; Akar, Didar.
This thesis aims to describe how direct reported speech (DRS) is constructed in Turkish and investigate how narrators make use of different reporting strategies in order to position themselves, their audience and the speakers they report in order to construct relational identities. Our analysis is based on 6 hours of video and audio recordings composed of both life story interviews and naturally occurring conversations. The most frequent DRS strategies in our data are DRS with the quotative de-, DRS with zero quotative and DRS with the converbial diye. DRS with the quotative de- is categorized into DRS with single quotative and DRS with multiple quotatives. In the latter category, the irregular behavior of de- in terms of sentential distribution, argument structure and prosodic features challenges its status as a verb. As for the narrative functions of DRS, we argue that there are three main categories: event description, theatrical representation and character assertion. Event description is carried out by DRS with single quotative, embedded in the narrative as part of complicating action or evaluation. Theatrical representation function is fulfilled by DRS with zero quotative, which enables the reporter to play the part of the reported speaker. Character assertion function is achieved when the narrative itself is the reported conversation and the multiple quotatives work towards reinforcing the reported speaker's position in the narrative. We further show that narrators are well aware of the representation and positioning effects of different strategies and make conscious choices regarding the DRS strategy to be used, as the organization of experiences via narratives requires the organization of characters.
Establishing legitimacy: persuasion and organisational identity
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2010., 2010.) Humphrey, Alys.; Akar, Didar.
Studies of institutions have shown that legitimacy and credibility are important aspects of institutional identity, particularly in the case of NGO. Given that identity is established and reflected largely through linguistic means, legitimacy and credibility are constructed and maintained through the discourse of an NGO. Thus the discourse of an NGO works to persuade readers’ of its legitimacy. Through a CDA based analysis of organisational newsletters, it is observed that two large and well-known NGOs, Open Society Institute and Amnesty International establish legitimacy through appeal to rather different qualities. In the former case, a subjective view is presented, with the institution’s attitude and opinion paramount in establishing legitimacy and credibility. In the latter case, that of Amnesty International, the institution is cast as legitimate and credible through appeal to objectivity. These differing approaches to establishment of legitimacy are manifested through different discursive patterns and devices. Hedging is a major feature of Amnesty International’s discourse, playing a central role in the establishment and maintenance of an objective stance. Meanwhile the discourse of Open Society Institute is characterised by a lack of hedges and indeed by boosters, creating their subjective route to legitimacy and credibility. Thus, the analysis indicates that differing distribution of linguistic features in the respective institutions’ newsletters are central to the construction of the two identities. Furthermore differing generic choices are also powerful in contributing to the divergent persuasive techniques employed by the organisations. In particular genre integrity and genre variation are powerful enactors of the respective organisational identities.
Expository writing in Turkish: a rhetorical approach to coherence and cohesion
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2006., 2006.) Koçbaş, B. Dilara.; Akar, Didar.
Coherence, i.e. the overall structure of the content of a text and cohesion, i.e. thetext-internal relations across clauses are considered two important standards that indicate the development of text construction abilities of children. This study analyzes the development of coherence and cohesion in expository writing in Turkish. The participants in this study from four grade groups (5th, 7th, 9th grade and universitys tudents) were asked to produce written expository text after having seen a video whichdepicts "the problems between people." With respect to the macrostructural organization of the texts, the demarcation of opening, developing, and concluding parts is achieved via their rhetorical function in theoverall text. To serve this purpose, MOVE analysis is recruited from genre analysis. It has also been noted that the existence or absence of structural parts such as opening, development, and conclusion can only be determined in relation to each other in thetexts.The cohesive properties of the data are analyzed in terms of reference, ellipsis, conjunction, lexical cohesion, temporality, aspectuality, and modality. It is noted that children's use of cohesive resources shows sensitivity to the rhetorical function of global parts of the discourse from early grades on. To conclude, the development of coherence and cohesion is proposed to beintricately related through literacy development. Especially the use of coordinative conjunctions, referential chains, and temporal-aspectual-modal marking seem to berelated to the rhetorical organization of the texts.
Impoliteness in computer mediated communication
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2009., 2009.) Can, Ayşegül.; Akar, Didar.
In this study, the nature of linguistic (im)politeness is examined in Turkish Computer Mediated Communication (henceforth CMC) based on data collected at an internet discussion forum. The aim of my study is to investigate the features and functions of impolite utterances within an interactional framework. In the study, impoliteness has been defined as being the opposite of politeness, in that, rather than seeking to mitigate Face Threatening Act (FTA), it constitutes the issuing of intentionally conflictive verbal FTA. The data are collected from a forum conversation in which users post and reply to other postings, articles and news. Accordingly, the type of CMC here is asynchronous and textbased as opposed to other modalities such as instant messaging or video chat. I selected the corpus from one thread of topic in which 19 members participate in the discussion of the headscarf issue in 134 posts. In these posts, 193 impolite speech acts are identified and analyzed. The impoliteness models offered by Culpeper (1996) and Bousfield (2007) based on face-toface conversation are applied to the data. The results indicate that impoliteness in Turkish CMC present a different picture than that of face-to-face conversation in English in terms of both impoliteness strategies and the dynamics of impoliteness: 1) The impoliteness strategies used to attack the positive face of the hearer significantly outnumbers the negative impoliteness strategies. Furthermore, impoliteness is by definition on-record. 2) The most common strategy in the data is challenging through rhetorical questions. However, we should also note that impoliteness strategies are not used individually; instead a combination of different impoliteness strategies seems to be the norm in the data. 3) In a similar way, impoliteness is recursive. In other words, one impolite speech act triggers more impoliteness in response. One way of avoiding this would be to use defense strategies. However this is not found in the data. Moreover in impolite sequences in face-to-face interaction, the sequences typically come to an end with a resolution. However in our data, of the nine conflict threads, only two come to a resolution point. In conclusion, it is difficult to claim that CMC is more or less polite than face to face interaction because it is the accepted norms of the community, but not the medium of interaction that determines the politeness of behavior.
Interactional dynamics in medical encounters: the participant roles and identities
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Graduate Institute of Social Sciences, 2005., 2005.) Çağlar, Özge.; Akar, Didar.
The aim of this thesis is to analyze the dynamics of doctor-patient interactions in Turkish from an interactional sociolinguistics perspective. First, how the participants establish the medical talk is analyzed taking into account the third participant in the medical talk, the companion. It was found that the companions are as effective as the patient or even more active than them during the interaction. The participants' roles were analyzed according to Goffman's (1981) "participant status" framework. Particularly, the companion's interactional roles and how these roles change the alignments of the doctor and patient were examined. Secondly, the address and reference terms used by the participants were analyzed. By doing this, the aim is to clarify how the participants perceive and reflect their own and others' identity.
Pragmatics of impersonal pronouns in Turkish
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022.) Bedir, Seyyit Talha.; Akar, Didar.
Impersonal pronouns are pronouns without specific, identifiable real-world referents. It is established in the literature that they are used to convey generalizable claims while expressing a certain degree of subjectivity at the same time. Relatively few works, however, study how the use of impersonal pronouns relates to the flow of the discourse and the identity of the speakers. This thesis aims to investigate how Turkish utilizes its six impersonal pronouns interactionally, which are sen/siz ‘you’, onlar ‘they’, biz ‘we’, insan ‘human’, adam ‘man’. In order to achieve this goal, 11 hours of recorded data is analyzed in terms of stance-taking, positioning and narrative analysis. The first finding is that impersonal pronouns, with the exception of impersonal-biz, are used to take predictable affective stances—the pronouns sen and insan are used to take positive stances; adam and onlar negative. Secondly, impersonal pronouns are found to position the speakers in numerous ways including being more knowledgeable, morally superior, and disadvantaged. Because of their stance-taking and positioning properties, Turkish impersonal pronouns are frequently encountered in the orientation and evaluation parts of the narratives. Additionally, if there is an antagonist-protagonist dichotomy in the narrative, speakers utilize Turkish impersonal pronouns in order to position themselves on the side of the protagonist and away from the antagonist. Consequently, in this research, it is shown for Turkish that impersonal pronouns not only put forward generalizable claims but also deliver what the speakers like and dislike and where they position themselves in terms of knowledge and morality.
Squatitive negation in Turkish
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2023., 2023) Dalmaz, Ege Baran.; Akar, Didar.
This thesis examines the squatitive negation forms (Horn, 2001) in Turkish in order to provide a linguistic description and an explanation of their discourse functions. Squatitives are negation forms that are non-canonical with distinctive interactional properties. Turkish has three grammatical negation forms: i. substantive predicate ‘değil’, ii. verbal suffix ‘/-mA/’, iii. existential predicate ‘yok’. Given the existence of these exhaustively productive negation forms, why there is a need for another form of negation is a question that has to be discussed. The answer lies in the interactional nature of language. Squatitive negation forms typically include a taboo or swear word such as nah and b*k inserted into a sentence and this taboo word changes the polarity of the sentence. Structurally, squatitives display certain constraints: i. they cannot be embedded, ii. they cannot occur in questions, and iii. they cannot license NPIs, which raises questions about their status as polarity items.Interactionally, squatitives require an antecedent utterance (usually by another speaker) which they repeat and change its polarity. While doing that, they function to display the speaker’s stance with purposes such as challenging or refuting the interlocutor’s preceding utterance. Following Berman’s (2005) discourse stance framework, I claim that squatitive forms most frequently mark attitude stance, in particular, affective stance based on 84 tokens collected from Turkish National Corpus and TS Corpus.
Turkish memes and their users :|indexicality and identity through language play
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022.) Tunçer, Ümit Can.; Akar, Didar.
Internet memes have been a considerable point of interest to their users ever since their widespread recognition on social media channels. These digital items often come in different shapes and formats, varying from simple texts accompanying images to complex video edits and audiovisual tokens. Recently, memes have started to appear in linguistics studies (George, 2020; Vasquez and Aslan, 2021, Yus, 2020) where their text-over-image properties proved to be significant in terms of indexicality and identity construction, language play, and the pragmatics of incongruity resolutions. This thesis aims to contribute to what has been discussed in the literature, with a selection of additional language play strategies observed in memes and Caps in Turkish social media. In addition to these language play strategies, an analysis utilizing the Indexicality Framework (Eckert, 2008; Silverstein, 2003) was used to demonstrate the complex meaning-making processes of memes, as well as the identity construction via the use of text and imagery. The second part of this thesis involves a practice-oriented approach to the communities that make and consume memes on social media. For this part, the Community of Practice framework (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 1999; Meyerhoff and Strycharz, 2013; Wenger, 1998) was utilized to demonstrate how certain affordances of social media channels allow for different practices that form within the meme communities. Furthermore, the member practices were shown to demonstrate the membership and identity construction within the meme communities.

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