A contrastive analysis of Turkish deictic elements bu, şu and o and their English translational equivalents

Mijatović, Nina. (2018). A contrastive analysis of Turkish deictic elements bu, şu and o and their English translational equivalents. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature
Department of Hungarian, Turkish and Jewish Language and Literature > Chair of Turkish Language and Literature. [mentor Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan and Kerovec, Barbara].

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Abstract

The thesis represents a contrastive analysis of demonstrative uses of the Turkish and English language. Its aim is to find English equivalents of Turkish demonstratives bu, şu and o, examining both pronominal and adnominal demonstratives. As demonstratives are deictic expressions, their various uses are arranged into five categories, each examining a demonstrative use related to a distinct semantic type of deixis, followed by an additional category dealing with non-deictic uses. The various demonstrative uses were analysed through representative examples taken from literary sources. The examples show a Turkish and English version of the same excerpt taken from one of the literary sources, with the aim of observing not only the demonstrative in question but also how it affects and fits within the context of each of the languages. Each example is preceded by an introduction into what the example is demonstrating and is followed by commentary discussing the choice of demonstrative in each of the languages with a view to show and explain their differences and similarities. The thesis shows the ways in which two languages may differ in respect to their demonstrative systems, exemplifying the complexity of demonstratives. The thesis demonstrates that the biggest similarities can be found in the semantic uses denoting space and time, which are oftentimes viewed as universal representations. That is, such a conclusion goes hand in hand with the assumption that languages predominantly use an egocentric representation of space, in which the speaker represents the deictic centre. The same can be concluded for time demonstratives, which are also one of the primary semantic demonstrative uses. On the other hand, the similarities of the two languages’ demonstrative systems recede as demonstrative uses extend, which is best illustrated in the category of non-deictic uses.

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