Uzbek Structural Grammar
Andrée F. SjobergThis is a structural grammar of Uzbek. Some may won- der why I have not utilized some recently developed, more specialized approaches such as transformational analysis. I am convinced, on the basis of my experience with some little-described non-Indo-European languages, that one must first, through induction or the process of discovery, discern and detail just what are the typical sequences and the function of their component parts before one can engage in transfor- mational analysis—a quasi-deductive method whereby one postulates a system of formal rules that might be said to account for, or “govern" the production of, any utterance in the language. The present work, it is hoped, provides the basis for more intensive analysis of standard spoken Uzbek.
For the realization of this venture, I am greatly indebted to a number of Uzbeks, particularly Babur Chağatay and M. Maksud-bek, who provided me with the basic materials on the Tashkent dialect-largely via tape recordings. I also wish to thank Gideon Sjoberg for his editorial assistance and for typing the final draft of the manuscript.