Ural-Altaic Theory: The Historical Views and Realities

Abstract

The issue of the relationship of the languages arranges one of the actual problems in the modern world linguistics. In this regard, the issue of relationship of the Ural languages with the Altaic languages is one of the problems which has been discussed, but hasn’t found the solution, yet. One of the founders of the theory of Ural-Altaic languages is also the famous Finnish scientist M.Castrén (1813-1852). M. Castrén has studied the ethnography, folklore and the language of Ural and Turkic nations, has documented these materials and has published in the form of some books during numerous travels to the region of Siberia for collecting the material. M. Castrén, Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884) and H.Kellgren the representatives of Finnish philological school being the successors of the prominent linguist Mirza Kazim bey have had the great supports in the study of relations of the Ural-Altaic languages and cultures.

The scientific heritage of the Finnish scientists, especially M. Castrén which is studying the relationships of Ural-Altaic languages has been researched largely in the article.