Verbs Associated with the Time Focused Adverbs in Turkish Course Books

Abstract

Time adverbs are represented by words or phrases more than morphemes in Turkish. Many studies in the literature have revealed that the frequency of the usage of adverbs of time is higher than the frequency of the usage of other adverbs by Turkish speakers of all ages. In this study, by using path/connection analysis method, the usage frequency of time adverbials in Turkish course books and which verbs these adverbs are associated with, is brought into focus. For this purpose, all the texts in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade Turkish course books were examined. At the end of the study, it was seen that the time adverbials in the Turkish coursebooks are mostly associted to the stative verb "to be". In Turkish course books, time shows a frequency order from the general to the specific. The adverbs "year" and "time" are used more frequently than the adverbs such as "month" and "week".The fact that "second" and "minute" are used so rarely in comparison to "hour" also supports the view that the texts in these books have a general sense of time.

Keywords: time adverbials, acquisition of vocabulary, Turkish education, coursebooks.