TURKISH LANGUAGE AND LITERA TURE. The Turkish language belongs to the Finno-Ugrian linguistic group, where it holds a first place for conformity to type as well as for extent of domain. Its territory is a zone aver aging about 300 miles in width, extending along the fortieth parallel of latitude from the shores of the Adriatic Sea eastward through one hun dred degrees of longitude to the westward border of Manchuria.
The chief structural characteristics of the Turk ish language arefour: (I) The root of every word is inviolable; (2) the root is emphasized by making its leading vowel dominate the vowels and to some extent the consonants added for purposes of in fleetion, subjecting them to change under regular rules of euphonic harmony. (3) Grammatical forms, especially- in the conjugation of the verb, are abundant, regular, logical, and efficient. (4) Determining or modifying syllables are placed at the end of the root. The Turkish verb begins in simplicity. For instance, bak, means 'look thou,' and is the root of the verb bakmak, to look. Upon this root a series of new verbs may be built : (1) Causative: bakdirmak, to cause or allow to look; (2) reciprocal: bakishmak. to look at one another: (3) reflexive: balg•dnnng1, to look at one's self, i.e. to be perplexed. From these again a further series of new verbs can be made by insert ing in each the causative particle: (4) bakdirt ak, to make or let one cause another to look ; (5) bakishdirmak, to cause or allow one to look at another: (6) bakindirmak, to cause or allow one to look at himself. i.e. to be perplexed. All of these new verbs can be conjugated in the positive, the negative, and the impossible form (to look: not to look ; and not to he able to look), and, if the sense permits, in all the moods and tenses of the active and passive voices. The same is true of the root of every verb in the language, if the sense permits. it has been computed that, count ing all the moods and tenses and numbers and persons, the permutations of which each Turkish verb is capable amount to over 25.000. Yet so
simple and clear are the rules that the memo rizing of forty-four syllables or particles enables one to build and understand the whole series. The efficiency of the system appears on realizing that Turkish grammar has but one conjugation and no irregular verbs except the auxiliary. The scheme of the verb is that of a form which will fit every root and which is yet so transparent that the root is always visible. The same prin ciple of agglutination to the root is followed in making new verbs from nouns or adjectives and in declining nouns and pronouns. There is no gender for noun, pronoun, or adjective. Ad jectives are subjected to no change except for comparison. The Turkish syntax is peculiar. The unit of expression is the paragraph, and there is no punctuation. The subject of the rul ing verb is placed as near as possible to the beginning of the paragraph. All subordinate sentences and clauses adding particulars have their verbs in participial form, the sense being thus suspended during, the process of building the paragraph, until the chief verb coming in at the very end illuminates the whole.
The investigations of Thomsen and Radloff among the so-called 'Runic' inscriptions of the vicinity of Urga and the Orkhon River, south of Lake Baikal, have shown these inscriptions to be Turkish historical records, some of them dat ing back as far as the sixth century. One of the ancient Turkish alphabets has thus been recovered. But as the Turks became Moham medans they began to adopt the Arabic alphabet, which is the only one now used by them. except as some of the northern tribes have adopted the Russian alphabet. They have increased the 28 Arabic letters to 33 by the device invented by the Persians of adding dots to five of the Arabic letters. Nevertheless the alphabet is quite un suited to the Turkish, owing to its lack of proper vowels.