An Analysis of the Functions and Temporal Semantics of Converbs in Turkish Official Written Discourse

The aim of this study is to uncover the functions and temporal meanings of the converb clauses in Turkish official written discourse. The converbs analysed in the study include -(y)IncA (when), -DIğIndA (when), -DIğI zaman (when), -(y)ken (while), -Ir...-mAz (as soon as), -mAdAn önce (before), -DIktAn sonra (after) and -DIkçA (whenever). The data are collected from the government programs issued between 1923 and 2016. A total of 565 converbs are found in the corpus. The findings illustrate that these constructions are mostly used as temporal clauses. Six of them also have other discourse roles in addition to their temporal markers. The suffixes -Ir...-mAz (as soon as) and -mAdAn önce (before) are utilized only as temporal converbs. Concerning other discourse functions, it is found that most of these converbs serve as the modifier of the head nouns in relative clauses. It is also revealed that -(y)IncA (when) and -DIğIndA (when) are utilized as topic markers. Of the converbs sampled -(y)ken (while) is the most frequently used construction. The other converbs are used less in the government programs. The findings of the study suggest that the converb constructions are very rich in terms of their functions that they assume in the government programs.