Irrealis Readings in Turkish

Turkish makes extensive use of derivational morphology, and the suffix -CI is among its most productive nominalizers. In its canonical use, -CI contributes an agentive or occupational meaning, as in sanat “art” sanatçı “artist” and kitap “book” kitapçı “bookseller/bookstore worker.” These -CI forms can further combine with the nominalizing suffix -lIK, yielding forms such as sanatçılık “artistry/being an artist” and kitapçılık “bookselling/bookstore work,” where -lIK contributes a meaning roughly related to a practice, profession, property, or domain.

However, the same morphological sequence also gives rise to a distinct set of meanings that are not straightforwardly agentive or occupational. In forms such as öğretmencilik “playing teacher,” doktorculuk “playing doctor,” and evcilik “playing house,” the -CI-lIK complex appears to contribute an irrealis, pretend-play, or role-enactment meaning. These forms do not simply denote the profession, activity, or property associated with the base noun; rather, they describe the performance or simulation of a role.

This project investigates the relationship between these two uses of -CI-lIK in Turkish. A central question is whether the irrealis or pretend-play meaning can be derived compositionally from the ordinary agentive -CI and nominalizing -lIK, or whether it reflects a distinct construction. The contrast between forms such as sanatçılık and öğretmencilik suggests that the interpretation of -CI-lIK is sensitive to the semantic properties of the base noun. In particular, when the base already denotes a person, role, or social agent, the resulting form may receive a “playing/acting as X” interpretation rather than a simple profession-related meaning.

At the same time, forms such as evcilik show that the pattern is not limited to nouns that independently denote agents. This raises further questions about decomposability, lexicalization, and the boundary between derivation and constructional meaning. For example, while ev “house” can combine with related morphology in forms such as evci and evcilik, the meanings of these forms are not always predictable from their parts. This suggests that -CI-lIK may involve both productive morphology and construction-specific interpretation.

By examining the distribution and interpretation of Turkish -CI-lIK formations, this study aims to clarify how agentive morphology can give rise to irrealis or pretend-play meanings, and what this reveals about the interaction between derivation, lexical semantics, and constructional meaning in Turkish.