Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

(^544) JAMES K. WATTERS
ver-ebil-iyor-.
give-ABIL-PROG-mIş
"(They say) he knows the answer to every question though he
can"t read books."
Here, as F&VV predicts, the tense (past) and evidential (hearsay) marked
by -mlş has scope over both clauses; the dependent clause cannot be sepa­
rately marked with -mlş even though it agrees in evidentiality.

5. Clausal cosubordination

Clausal cosubordination is a nexus type in which two clauses have some

kind of categorial interdependence. That is, though there is no embedding

(as in subordination) there is a dependency in terms of shared clausal

operators such as illocutionary force, evidentials, tense or status.

5.1 -ince

A suffix which apparently marks clausal cosubordination in Turkish is -ince.

Its semantic function is to denote "action just prior to that of the main

verb" (Lewis, 179). Note the following sentences:

(20) Ahmet ev-e gel-ince Hasan yat-ma-ya git-ti.

Ahmet home-DAT come- Hasan sleep-vN-DAT go-ρτ

"When Ahmet came home, Hasan went to sleep."

(21)  gel-ince kalk-ar-im

PRO -c rise-AOR-lsG

"When he comes, I'll get up." (Lewis 1967:179)

In neither of the above sentences is there a shared core argument: the argu­

ments of the verbs in each clause are independent. Within the framework of

F&VV this immediately rules out the possibility of these being instances of

core juncture. Note, however, that the dependent clause is not indepen­

dently specified for tense: the tense of the main clause has scope over the

dependent clause as well. Thus, the dependent clause in (20) is understood

as past tense, due to the -dl in the main clause; the dependent clause in (21)

is understood as future due to the (unmarked) tense reading of the aorist in

the main clause.