Ebook: A Sketch of the Turki Language as spoken in Eastern Turkistan. Part I. Grammar

Calcutta: The Baptist Mission Press, 1878. - 144 p.The Turkish tongues are of singular interest to the student of language. They are to him, what the mountains which surround their birth-place are to the geologist ; who there can observe many of the vastest operations of nature and their results, naked as it were, and not veiled by the superficial covering which in other less barren countries makes the investigation and tracing out of the various formations so laborious a task.
The Indo-European languages are like an ancient building, where frequent restorations have interfered with the original design, and where finally a universal coat of plaster has destroyed all outward distinction between old and new. In the Turanian structure, on the other hand, every tool-mark is still fresh, the places where the scaffolding has rested are still visible, and we can almost trace each course of the stone-work to its origin in the quarry whence it was hewn.