qoshimasi

Qoshimasi is a term used in Uzbek linguistics to refer to a morpheme that attaches to a base word (stem) to form a new word or to modify its grammatical function. It is one of the core concepts in the study of Uzbek morphology and describes the suffixes that follow a word’s root to add meaning or grammatical information. A word may carry several qoshimalar in a sequence, each contributing a specific function.

Qoshimalar are typically categorized into inflectional and derivational types. Inflectional qoshimalar express grammatical categories such as number, possession, or case without changing the word class. Derivational qoshimalar create new words or shift the part of speech, for example turning a noun into an adjective or a verb into a noun. The combination and order of qoshimalar can affect meaning and grammatical correctness; in Uzbek, there is often a preferred hierarchy in suffix order.

In practice, qoshimasi analysis helps in understanding how sentences are formed. For example, the base word kitob (book) can take a possessive qoshimasi to become kitobim (my book), and a plural qoshimasi to become kitoblar (books). These suffixes also follow vowel harmony rules, shaping their appearance to fit the root.

See also: affix, suffix, stem, derivation, inflection.

Etymology: qoshimasi derives from the verb qo’shmoq, meaning to add or attach, reflecting its role as something added to a word.