Slick, tricky ones...

Ambiguous only when spoken...

If you hear us say: 

Odamaç

I

kt

I

.

 

(as if it were a single word, with no noticeable break between 

syllables) 

Do you think we mean: 

a) 

Odam aç

I

kt

I

 ;

 My room was opened

, or 

b) 

Odama ç

I

kt

I

 ;

 He went up to my room...

 

Ambiguous when written 

or

 spoken...

 

If we write (or say): 

H

I

rs

I

z bakan

I

n odas

I

na girdi

. 

Do you think we mean: 

a) 

H

I

rs

I

z 

[with a break here]

 bakan

I

n odas

I

na girdi

; 

The thief entered the room of the minister

, 

or... 

b) 

H

I

rs

I

z bakan

I

n odas

I

na 

[with a break here]

 girdi

; 

She 

(or he)

 entered the room of the thieving minister!

 

Can you tell which meanings reflect the speaker's (writer's) thoughts? 

Jump over to the 

Avoiding Ambiguities

 page -- to find out...

How's the following spelling ambiguity strike you...? 

[the dashes are shown below just for clarity]

1.

el means hand

2.

el-i means his hand

3.

el-i-n-de

 means in his hand

4.

el-in means your hand

5.

el-in-de

 means in your hand... 

That's 

the same Turkish spelling

 as item 3, but 

a 

different meaning

!

Not a very big difference in meaning, you say? Well, 'spose 

gold bullion

 was the 

subject -- in his or your hand. Then would it make a difference?

Mix-up between varmak; to arrive ... 

and var; there exists

In written Turkish, you are justified in doing a double take 
upon seeing the word 

vard

I

 -- 

and any other such verb tense 

constructions that may be based on the verb varmak; to arrive or 
var; he/she/it exists

. 

For, by itself like that, 

vard

I

 can mean 

either

 he arrived (the 

past tense of varmak) 

or

 there existed 

["there was"]

 

-- the latter 

meaning of 

vard

I

 arising from a concatenation of the word var plus 

the word idi

. So you have to rely on the context of a written 

sentence to tell the difference between meanings. 

Thus, the meaning of 

vard

I

 is clear only when seen in the 

context of the following example sentences... 

Saat dokuzda 

vard

I

; 

He arrived

 at nine o'clock. 

Masada bir kitap 

vard

I

; 

There was

 

(There existed)

 a book on 

the table. 

A similar ambiguity arises with all the Turkish nouns. For 
example, consider the noun 

adam

; 

man

 and the two possible 

meanings which arise when the suffix 

-im

 is applied -- 

1) 

adam

I

m

; my man 

2) 

adam

I

m

; I am a man. 

Not until the word is securely wrapped in a sentence does the 
meaning become clear... 

Adam

I

m

I

 severim; I love 

my man

. 

Halden anl

I

yan bir 

adam

I

m

; 

I am a man

 of the world. 

Still another example of this sort of ambiguity arises with all 
the Turkish verbs...For example, take the verbal derivative 

yuzme

. You can't say for sure what it means until you see 

how the word is used in a sentence... 

Kirli suda 

yuzme

; 

Don't swim

 in dirty water. 

Yuzme

 havuzu icine düstü; She fell into the 

swimming

 pool. 

In speech, you get a further clue 

(in addition to the sentence context) 

to help you differentiate between ambiguous meanings -- but 
you'll need to listen very carefully. 

Take the example with 

vard

I

 above. When you listen and 

you hear the accent on the 

first

 syllable 

var

, then the word 

means there is. And when you hear the accent on the 

second 

syllable 

d

I

 then the word means he arrived. 

Don't underestimate this ambiguity...Var is a very important Turkish word in it's 
own right that literally means there exists, but which also has connotations of 
there is, I have, you have, he/she/it has, we have, they have, I own, you own, etc. 
And, along with yok and sey is one of the most used words in the Turkish 
language. 

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка 

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