Özet:
Classification of the “sentences” is a controversial topic in Turkish linguistic studies. Researchers have
formulated various classifications, which led to confusion. This paper posits a different type of classification
based on the sentence construction. Traditionally, the sentences are labelled according to their verbs and the
place, type, amount and meaning of the verbs determine the categorization of a sentence. With a different
approach, this paper proposes to classify the sentences in two types according to the construction of the sentence and string of elements. Whereas sentences containing one statement will be labelled as “simple construction sentences” sentences with more than one statement will be called “compound sentences”. The interpretation of the sentences in such a way is thought to be opening new paths. For instance, reported speech sentences are compound sentences that differ from simple sentences in the way that they do not contain single and same occurrence and action. These sentences can be described as nested sentences containing full statements and some quotations with the main sentence involving the main sentence constructed with “de-” verb nested with reported statements. This study suggests a definition for reported speech and basically examines reported speech sentences by discussing whether the reported speech sentences can be defined as compound sentences.
