Proto-Turkic/Converbs and sentence formation

Welcome to the twelve lesson of the Proto-Turkic! Sentence formation Unlike English which has subject–verb–object (SVO), the basic Proto-Turkic word order is SOV, that it is subject–object–verb. The precise order look like this: Adjective (attributive) Subject Adjective (predicative) Postposition Object (anything) Adverb Verb Pronoun (certain tenses, see more) There is no prepositions in Proto-Turkic, postpositions, of which succeeds its objects, serve that role instead. This is a list of some postpositions found in Proto-Turkic: *üčün "for, because of" *togru "toward" Examples Sentence *green Bẹ purple ebke brown tǖn pink kẹltigreen m. Gloss "I house-dat night come-past-1sg" Part of speech Pronoun (subj.) Object Adverb Verb Meaning "green I pink came purple to the house brown night." Sentence *blue Anagreen m purple doŋuŕ eti pink yēdi. Gloss "Mother-1sg.poss pig meal-3sg.poss eat-past.3sg." Part of speech Subject Object (compound) Verb Meaning "green My blue mother pink ate purple pork (← pig meal)." Converbs Converbs are conjunctions that connect verbs to sentences. In Turkic languages, verbs can be connected to sentences when they turn into verbal. In English this is mostly done by conjunctions and prepositions. This is how we translate it. But have you noticed that verbs are not connected the way we translate them into sentences. For example, when we say while going, we are actually saying goingly (just like rallingly). The linking of verbs is through being either nouns, adjectives or adverbs. These are connected to a sentence on their own without the need for a conjunction like while, and they even have a meaning on their own. Considering that we count words such as winningly, seethingly, meaningly as words alone, there are verb-based endless adverbs in a Turkic language. All right, so why is there such a title? *verb-verbal adjective (as a noun)-possessive-ablative "Since I came late yesterday, everyone was already asleep." Note that there is no because in Proto-Turkic. So how do we connect this sentence and translate it into Proto-Turkic? We use adjective verbs and possessives. "Tǖn kēč kẹldükümten, bārča kiĺi ūdïma(k)da erti." Let's examine the first part of the sentence. From my coming late yesterday - Tǖn kēč kẹldükümten Next up is the second part you know. Everybody was asleep - bārča kiĺi ūdïma(k)da erti verbverbal adjective (as verbal noun)possesiveablativekẹldükümten "Since (from) green I (my) pink came (coming) brown late purple yesterday, red everyone orange was (already) blue asleep (sleeping)." "purple Tǖn brown kēč pink kẹl dükgreen ümten, red bārča kiĺi blue ūdïma(k)da orange erti." *verb-verbal adjective (as a noun)-possessive-locative When I came late yesterday, everyone was already asleep. - "Tǖn kēč kẹldükümte, bārča kiĺi ūdïma(k)da erti." Let's examine the first part of the sentence. At my coming late yesterday - Tǖn kēč kẹldükümte Next up is the second part you know. Everybody was asleep - bārča kiĺi ūdïma(k)da erti verbverbal adjective (as verbal noun)possesivelocativekẹldükümte "When (at) green I (my) pink came (coming) brown late purple yesterday, red everyone orange was (already) blue asleep (sleeping)." "purple Tǖn brown kēč pink kẹlpink dükgreen ümte, red bārča kiĺi blue ūdïma(k)da orange erti." *verb-verbal adjective (as a noun)-possessive for Since I came late yesterday, everyone was already asleep. - "Tǖn kēč kẹldüküm üčün, bārča kiĺi ūdïma(k)da erti." Let's examine the first part of the sentence. For my coming late yesterday - Tǖn kēč kẹldüküm üčün Next up is the second part you know. Everybody was asleep - bārča kiĺi ūdïma(k)da erti verbverbal adjective (as verbal noun)possesiveforkẹldükümüčün "Since (for) green I (my) pink came (coming) brown late purple yesterday, red everyone orange was (already) blue asleep (sleeping)." "purple Tǖn brown kēč pink kẹlpink dükgreen üm üčün, red bārča kiĺi blue ūdïma(k)da orange erti." *verb-verbal adjective (as a noun)-possessive-equative I saw as I came. - "Kẹldükümče, körtüm." Let's examine the first part of the sentence. As I came (this much) - Kẹldükümče Next up is the second part you know. I saw - körtüm verbverbal adjective (as verbal noun)possesiveequativekẹldükümče Notes: In many modern Turkic languages there is *-gAn instead of *-dUk. But *-dUk used in Yenisei inscriptions, Köktürk inscriptions and both Volga and Danube Bulgarian inscriptionsTekin, Talat (1988), Volga Bulgar kitabeleri ve Volga Bulgarcası‎[1], Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, page 30. So using *-dUk is more realistic to Proto-Turkic language. Today, some Turkic languages use as follows: pronoun verb-verbal adjective-ablative/locative/ for/equative Next lesson: Abilities, future tense and present continuous References