Traditional Paradigm in Contemporary Turkish Syntax Research
Timur AydınCompound sentences have been a controversial issue in research on the syntax of Modern Turkish from the past to the present. The debate arises especially with the question of what to include in the category of compound sentences. Some researchers include structures formed with infinitives, participles, and gerunds in compound sentences, whereas others exclude them from the scope. In traditional Turkology literature, the relationship between compound sentences and infinitives, participles, and gerunds is generally treated exclusively. Accordingly, the main compound sentence in Turkish is the conditional sentence, and sentences expressed with subordinate clauses in Western languages are covered by the rich infinitive, participle, and gerund system of Turkish. In addition to the conditional sentence, referential and compound sentences with ki can be used. However, these are secondary and the conditional sentence is primary. These views, which deeply affect traditional Turkish literature and education, constitute an intellectual basis that we can call the traditional paradigm of the syntax of Contemporary Turkish. This intellectual ground guides the literature by providing researchers with an idea of how to conduct existing studies and research. In this study, the birth and development of the relevant paradigm was examined by considering the other views and paradigms with which it developed in opposition. Thus, this study aims to reveal more clearly the main ideas and focal points underlying the paradigm. In addition, a fourfold classification according to schools has been proposed for syntax analysis in future research.
Çağdaş Türkçe Sözdizimi Araştırmalarında Geleneksel Paradigma
Timur AydınÇağdaş Türkçenin sözdizimi üzerine geçmişten günümüze yapılan araştırmalarda birleşik cümle bahsi tartışmalı bir konu olmuştur. Tartışma özellikle birleşik cümle kategorisine nelerin dahil edileceği sorusuyla birlikte ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bazı araştırmacılar birleşik cümleye fiilimsilerle kurulan yapıları dahil etmekte, bazıları ise bunları kapsam dışında bırakmaktadır. Geleneksel Türkoloji literatüründe fiilimsilerin genellikle birleşik cümle kurmadığı varsayılır. Buna göre Türkçenin esas birleşik cümlesi şart cümlesidir ve Batı dillerinde yan cümlelerle ifade edilen cümleler Türkçenin zengin fiilimsi sistemiyle karşılanır. Şart cümlesi yanında iç içe ve ki’li birleşik cümlelerden söz edilebilir. Ancak bunlar ikincil, şart cümlesi birincildir. Geleneksel Türkoloji literatürünü ve eğitimini derinden etkileyen söz konusu görüşler, Çağdaş Türkçenin sözdizimi hakkında geleneksel paradigma adını verebileceğimiz bir entelektüel zemin oluşturmaktadır. Bu entelektüel zemin mevcut çalışma ve araştırmaların nasıl yapılacağı hakkında araştırmacılara bir fikir sunarak literatürü yönlendirmektedir. Bu çalışmada ilgili paradigmanın doğuş ve gelişimi, karşıtlık hâlinde geliştiği diğer görüş ve paradigmalar dikkate alınarak incelenmiştir. Böylece paradigmanın zemininde yatan ana fikir ve odak noktalarını daha açık şekilde gözler önüne sermek amaçlanmıştır. Ayrıca bundan sonra yapılacak araştırmalar için sözdizimi incelemeleri adına ekollere göre dörtlü bir tasnif ortaya koyulmuştur.
Research on the syntax of Modern Turkish has been conducted under the influence of a view that we can call the traditional paradigm. The traditional paradigm can be examined in two phases. The first one covers a period from the time when the first grammar books of Modern Turkish were written to the development of Turkology research in Turkey. The first-stage traditional paradigm does not consider compound sentences as an important issue in Contemporary Turkish. Accordingly, because the structures expressed with subordinate clauses in Indo-European languages are met by the rich verbal system of Turkish, infinitives, participles, and gerunds do not constitute auxiliary sentences in Turkish. Turkish has two types of compound sentences: primary and secondary. The first type of compound sentence is a conditional sentence. Conditional sentences have been used since the earliest stages of Turkish. The second type of compound sentences are sentences with ki and referential sentences. These entered Turkish with the influence of foreign languages.
Against the first phase of the traditional paradigm is a community of alternative views. These do not have the internal consistency to constitute a paradigm. Different researchers have classified compound sentences in Turkish by considering infitives, participles, and gerunds as part of the compound sentence. It cannot be claimed that the community of alternative views rests on an argumentative basis, as in the traditional paradigm. Instead, they addressed the issue of compound sentences more than a matter of classification.
The second phase of the traditional paradigm began with a break in the Turkology literature in the 1990s. A new view claiming that the conditional suffix is not actually a verb mood suffix but a gerund suffix has brought about a re-evaluation of the compound sentence category. If the suffix that forms the conditional sentence is a gerund suffix, it is necessary to consider the conditional compound sentence as a gerund group. This break has led to the view that there are actually only simple sentences and no compound sentences in Turkish. In fact, a compound sentence cannot be mentioned in Turkish; instead, "the ways in which sentences are connected to each other" should be mentioned. The traditional paradigm, which accepts that there are three types of compound sentences in Turkish, is actually carried to its logical conclusion in the views in question. Because early stage researchers state that compound sentences in Turkish are an exception. Compound sentence types other than conditional sentences are secondary in Turkish. The syntax of Turkish corresponds to the structures expressed by subordinate clauses in Indo-European languages with a rich verb system. Therefore, there is no direct and primary compound sentence structure in Turkish, unlike in Indo-European languages. When the conditional sentence is removed from the compound sentence category, only secondary compound sentences remain in Turkish. Instead of expressing these in the category of compound sentences, it is more reasonable to discuss the ways in which the sentences are connected to each other.
The second-generation traditional paradigm developed as a debate with the generative grammar view. Just as there is a community of alternative views against the first generation, there is a more formidable opponent against the second generation, this time based on a well-founded linguistic theory. Although the generative grammar paradigm has its roots in philosophy and linguistics, it has also influenced Turkology literature.
The reflections of the traditional paradigm, which seems to affect the way compound sentences are handled in contemporary Turkish, also show themselves in research on contemporary and historical Turkish dialects. In research conducted on the syntax of contemporary Turkish dialects, the traditional paradigm appears to be almost the same as that expressed by the first generation. Accordingly, compound sentences in contemporary dialects are secondary structures that emerged because of external influences. The same viewpoint is also found in research on historical Turkish dialects.
In this article, we attempt to reveal the emergence and development process of a paradigm regarding Turkish's syntax that has been influential for many years. The idea that the views discussed in the first and second generation traditional paradigms, which can be considered as seemingly different paradigms or ideas, are essentially the same paradigm, consisting of the same main idea and an idea expressed in the first generation, is brought to its logical conclusion in the second generation.
