Tackling the Augmentative Puzzle in Turkish

Abstract

This paper deals with the suffix -cIk in Turkish, and argues that the suffix -cIk has an augmentative meaning, as well as a diminutive meaning which has been mentioned in the literature extensively. The different meanings of the suffix -cIk are due to two different structures that I propose. While the structure of the diminutive is made of one single morpheme -cIk, that of the augmentative suffix is composed of two morphemes: -cI and -k. I offer phonotactic and morphological evidence that shows -k has its own life. I also show strict categorical selection properties for the diminutive and augmentative suffix: The augmentative one can only be attached to adjectival bases that express negative orderings. The diminutive -cIk, on the other hand, attaches to nouns. I capture this contrast using the nanosyntax model of spellout.