Evidentiality in Uzbek and Kazakh

2.2 
Predication and Lexical Categories 
Predicates in Uzbek and Kazakh, and, indeed, in all Turkic languages, may be divided into two 
broad categories: verbal and non-verbal. Verbal predicates are characterized by their ability to 
be directly marked for the full range of verbal categories: voice/valency, negation, tense, aspect, 
mood, person, and number (11). Non-verbal predicates may only be directly marked for person 
and number agreement (in 12 the word ‘jealous’ is an adjective, not a verb); when person and 

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number are the only features marked, non-verbal predicates receive a generic or present tense 
interpretation (13). 
(11) Siz ko’r-il-ma-di-ngiz. (Uz) 
Siz kör-il-me-di-ŋiz. (Kaz) 
You see-
PASS
-
NEG
-
PST
-2
PL
‘You (pl) were not seen.’ 
(12) *Biz qizg’anchiq-ish-ma-di-k. (Uz) 
*Biz qizğanšaq-ïs-pa-dï-q. (Kaz) 
We jealous-
COOP
-
NEG
-
PST
-1
PL
‘We were not jealous of each other.’ 
(13) Men doktor-man. (Uz) 
Men däriger-min. (Kaz) 
I doctor-1
SG
‘I am a doctor.’ 
A further difference between verbal and non-verbal predicates is that while verbal predicates 
select from the full range of three agreement paradigms (not including the irregular forms of the 
desiderative paradigm), non-verbal predicates, when they are directly marked for agreement, 
may employ only the pronominal agreement markers shown in Tables 12 and 13. Non-verbal 
predicates may be divided into five classes: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, existentials, and 
deontics. 
2.2.1 Nouns and Adjectives 
Nouns and adjectives form fairly discrete classes within the Turkic languages, 
particularly with regard to their syntactic behavior and the distribution of associated morphemes. 
Nouns are characterized by their ability to take plural morphology, to be modified by quantifiers 
and adjectives, to receive case and possession morphology, and to act as the arguments of verbs. 

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(14) Bu äyel däriger. ~ 
Bu däriger orïs. (Kaz) 
This woman doctor
This doctor Russian 
‘This woman is a doctor.’ 
‘This doctor is Russian.’ 
(15) Akram do’st-im. 
~ 
Kecha do’st-ing-ni ko’r-di-m. (Uz) 
 
Akram friend-1
SG
Yesterday friend-2
SG
-
ACC
see-
PST
-1
SG
‘Akram is my friend.’
‘Yesterday I saw your friend.’ 
Adjectives in Turkic are characterized by their ability to receive comparative and superlative 
markers and to be modified by certain intensifying adverbs (16), as well as to modify nouns (17). 
(16) Astana ädemi. ~ 
Astana ädemi-rek. 
~ 
Astana eŋ ädemi. (Kaz) 
Astana beautful 
Astana beautiful-
CMPR
Astana most beautiful 
‘Astana is beautiful’ ‘Astana is more beautiful’ 
‘Astana is most beautiful.' 
(17) Men baland daraxt-ni ko'r-di-m. 
~ 
Daraxt baland. (Uz) 
I tall tree-
ACC
see-
PST
-1
SG
tree tall 
'I saw the tall tree.' 
'The tree is tall.' 
Nouns marked with the locative case behave semantically like adjectives, in as much as they 
modify nouns. Syntactically, they pattern with non-verbal predicates when they are used 
predicatively, but in order for them to be used attributively, a special morpheme must be inserted 
(Uz: -ki, Kaz: -GI): 
(18) Prezident poytaxt-da.
~ 
poytaxt-da-gi kishi (Uz) 

President capital-
LOC
capital-
LOC
-
ATTR
person 
'The president is in the capital' 
'person (who is) in the capital' 
(19) Atïraw-da-ğï sawda želi-si (Kaz) 
Atyrau-
LOC
-
ATTR
commerce system-3 
‘The commerce system in Atyrau.’
1
In many Turkic languages nouns and adjectives may be distinguished from one another 
through the distribution of intensifying and comparative morphemes. That is, morphemes 
expressing concepts like ‘more’ and ‘very’ are expressed differently depending upon lexical 
1
2010. Sberbank Rossii. Accessed 8 Mar 2010. www.sberbank.kz/?p223&version=kz. 

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category. Uzbek and Kazakh are among the Turkic languages that express this distinction - 
Turkish is not. 
Table 15 - Intensification and Comparison 
Intensifier (very, many) 
Comparative (more) 
Noun 
Adjective 
Noun 
Adjective 
Kazakh 
köp adam 
öte žaqsï 
köb-irek adam 
žaqsï-raq 
Uzbek 
ko’p odam 
juda yaxshi 
ko’p-roq odam 
yaxshi-roq 
Turkish 
çok adam 
çok iyi 
daha adam 
daha iyi 
Gloss 
‘many men’ 
‘very good’ 
‘more men’ 
‘better’ 
Adjectives may occasionally function as nouns and receive nominal morphology; when they do, 
they denote entities characterized by the features expressed by the adjectives from which they are 
derived: qizil-lar ‘the red ones’ (Uz), ädemi-ler ‘the beautiful (people)’ (Kaz). Nouns in Turkic, 
as a rule, cannot function as adjectives.