The preposition erki as an example of grammaticalization in historical Turkish language

Grammaticalization, one of the terms that prove language is a living entity, is a semantic, structural, and formal structure in which large language structures are transformed into small language structures. The processes and principles of grammaticalization play an important role in understanding the concept of grammaticalization. Prepositions, a product of grammaticalization, which is considered as the transformation of a lexical structure into a grammatical structure or the increase in the grammatical degree of a grammatical structure, are auxiliary elements of the sentence that do not have meaning on their own, embody meaning and function in the sentence, and support the sentence in several ways. The real richness of a language is measured not by the number of words, but by the breadth of its expressive possibilities. Prepositions are classified by examining them in terms of origin, structure and meaning. Prepositions, which are usually considered as auxiliary elements unlike nouns and verbs which are the main elements, are dependent units consisting of nouns and verbs. The erki preposition, one of the prepositions used to reinforce and add meanings such as doubt and hesitation to the sentence, has come to Turkey Turkish after undergoing formal changes. In our study, after examining the grammaticalization theory, the term "preposition", the structure, and classification of prepositions, and the grammaticalization of prepositions in Turkish are explained. In the context of grammaticalization of prepositions, the erki preposition is examined lexicographically with a historical-comparative method.