THE ROLE OF AFFIXES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TURKIC MORPHOLOGY

Abstract

This article examines the role of affixes in the development of the morphological system of Turkic languages from comparative, typological, and functional perspectives. The study aims to identify the contribution of derivational and inflectional affixes to the historical evolution of Turkic morphology and to determine their significance in the formation of grammatical categories and lexical units. The research analyzes the structural organization, semantic development, and functional productivity of affixes using data from several Turkic languages, including Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish, and Azerbaijani. The findings indicate that affixes have remained the principal morphological mechanism throughout the historical development of Turkic languages while simultaneously adapting to phonological, semantic, and communicative changes. The study contributes to comparative Turkic linguistics, historical morphology, and contemporary derivational studies.