LINGUISTICS REFERENCES FUNCTIONS OF NUMBER WORDS IN TURKISH: NUMBERS AS PRONOUNS

The number words in language research and grammar sources in Turkey are always divided into two categories: number nouns and numbers as adjectives. However, in Turkish, number words can be also used with main linguistic reference functions such as concealment, substitution and replacement. In other words, a number word can be used as number as pronouns as well as number nouns and number as adjectives. For a number noun to be used anaphorically, it should be in the form of either cardinal or ordinal number. Distal or proximal references can be observed in lexical phrases formed with cardinal or ordinal numbers as adjectives in Turkish: such as adamlardan biri “one of the men”, öğrencilerin ikisi “two of the students”, üçüncü kişi “the third person”. However, classification of number nouns as a pronoun as a lexical class can be possible through abridgement of phrasal structures formed with cardinal and ordinal numbers: such as biri “the one”, ikisi “the two”, üçüncüsü or üçüncü “the third”. When the subjects of concealment, substitution and replacement exceeded the lexical level, many phrases containing any number word are also becoming noticeable. In this paper, how the referential functions of number nouns are described in the texts will be dwelt upon. Then, these functions will be classified by showing examples from the literary texts in Turkish.