Written in Karakhanid Turkic in the 11th century, Kutadgu Bilig (Wisdom of Royal Glory) stands as one of the masterpieces of Turkic language and literature. Although its genre is a mathnawi—a form of narrative text—the intensive use of the “showing” technique gives the work the appearance of a theatrical script. Even though the work was not written to be staged, the thoughts of the characters are predominantly conveyed through direct speech, and quotations are occasionally utilized; consequently, embedded complex and explanatory complex sentence structures are frequently employed. In this article, first, embedded complex and explanatory complex sentence structures are compared in light of the data obtained through a literature review, and an attempt is made to explain the place of these structures within Turkish syntax. Subsequently, Kutadgu Bilig was examined to identify examples of these sentence structures based on their various syntactic features. It has been observed that not every type of these sentence structures found in modern Turkish is present in the work. Nevertheless, these sentence structures have been noted to be among the fundamental syntactic components in the construction of the text. In this book of advice (mirror for princes), which serves a crucial function for state administrators in establishing legitimacy in the eyes of the public, it is observed that quoting speech of the characters—who represent abstract concepts—and aphorisms is marked through these syntactic forms.
Kutadgu Bilig, embedded complex sentence, explanatory complex sentence.