qoshma

Qoshma, often transliterated qo‘shma, is a term used in Uzbek linguistics to describe units formed by combining two or more elements. The word covers two related phenomena: qoshma so‘zlar (compound words) and qoshma gaplar (compound sentences).

Qoshma so‘zlar are created by joining two or more stems or morphemes to form a new lexical item. They may be written as a single word, as two separate words, or with a hyphen, depending on orthographic conventions and common usage. They are commonly analyzed as endocentric compounds, with a head word that determines the main meaning, or exocentric compounds, in which no single element serves as the head.

Qoshma gaplar are sentences made up of two or more independent clauses linked by coordinating conjunctions or punctuation. They express relations such as addition, contrast, cause, or sequence. In Uzbek, typical coordinating conjunctions include equivalents of and, or, and but, and the patterns shown here exist in many languages.

Orthographic and stylistic rules for qoshma forms vary by standard and era. Some qoshma words are written as closed forms, others as open forms, and some use hyphens in transliteration or in dictionaries.

In language education and description, the qoshma category helps describe how speakers join meanings and clauses, and it supports the study of word formation and sentence structure in Uzbek and related Turkic languages.

See also: compound word, compound sentence, Uzbek grammar, Turkic linguistics.