VERBS FOR WAYS OF BEHAVIOR BORROWED FROM OTTOMAN TURKISH

Abstract

In linguistic theory, Zeno Vendler’s (1957) aspectual classification of verbs into four main classes—states, activities, accomplishments, and achievements—is well known. Activities are particularly amenable to thematic analysis because they can be subdivided into simple actions, behaviors, and occupations. According to Apresyan (2006), several of his 19 proposed verb groups concern activities, including human behaviors and how they are perceived or interpreted. Notably, in his discussion of behavioral verbs, Apresyan only includes those that deviate from societal norms or carry negative connotations from the speaker's perspective. This way of categorization implies that linguistically conceptualized behaviors conforming to norms are often left implicit, while deviant behaviors are much more predominantly explicitly labeled. To test the hypothesis that deviant behaviors are more likely to be reflected in language, we analyzed a sample of 121 verbs borrowed from Ottoman Turkish. With a few exceptions, these verbs denote actions or behaviors considered socially unacceptable. Our analysis aims to understand how language encodes cultural judgments and moral evaluations through lexical choices, particularly with regard to behaviors that fall outside of normative boundaries. This study contributes to broader discussions in semantics and sociolinguistics about how languages capture social attitudes through verb classification.