In Turkish: Sentence Structure and Possible Sentences According to the Sequence of Elements

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the structure according to the order of the elements in the Turkish sentence and to determine the possible sentences that are produced according to this structure. In order to examine the possible sentences, the question raised is: “How many possible canonical clauses (regular), inverted sentences (irregular) and elliptical (incomplete) sentences in Turkish can be created?” There are 24 possible sentences in canonical structure in which the position of the verb is fixed and other elements change positions. Inverted sentences are grouped under four groups: hence, there are 96 sentences. Elliptical sentence is formed with the reduction of one or more elements from the sentence and there are 205 possible sentences in elliptical sentence structure. No structural changes or affixes occur in the words that form the sentence. The same words are used in the same structure. As a conclusion, it is found out that the total number of possible canonical and inverted sentences are 24+24+24+24+24=120 and the number of elliptical sentences are 5+20+60+120=205. This indicates that we can form (24+96+205=325) 325 possible sentences in Turkish.