From Old Korean 去 (*-ke).
거 (-ke-)
This suffix is one of three Middle Korean suffixes which do not have a fixed underlying pitch, but assume the pitch of the preceding syllable. The two others are ᄂᆞ (-no-) and the epenthetic vowel of 시〮 (-sí-).
거 (-ke-) is most often, but not exclusively, found with adjectives, intransitive verbs, and the copula. Transitive verbs usually take 아〮 (-á-) or 어〮 (-é-) depending on vowel harmony, and this appears to have had largely the same meaning as 거 (-ke-). The most common explanation is that they were allomorphs of the same suffix, with the choice between the two largely determined by transitivity. However, others have suggested that the two suffixes had different meanings, with 아〮 (-á-)/어〮 (-é-) having a stronger perfective sense.
These are believed to have been derived from the suffix, but it is not clear to what extent Middle Korean speakers still saw them as multiple suffixes rather than as single fully grammaticalized suffixes.
Middle Korean verbal paradigm | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Verb stem | Slot 1 Object honorific |
Slot 2 Past-related TAM |
Slot 3 Subject honorific |
Slot 4 Present tense | ||
ᅀᆞᇦ〯 (-zǒW-) | 더〮 (-té-, imperfective) 아〮/어〮 (-á/é-, perfective) 거 (-ke-, perfective) |
으시〮/ᄋᆞ시〮 (-usí/osí-) | ᄂᆞ (-no-) | |||
Slot 5 Modulator |
Slot 6 Prospective/Future |
Slot 7 Emotive/Exclamatory1 |
(Slot 8) (Imperfective)2 | |||
오〮/우〮 (-wó/wú-) | 으〮리〮/ᄋᆞ〮리〮 (-úlí/ólí-) | 도〮 (-twó-) 돗〮 (-twós-) others |
더〮 (-té-) | |||
(Slot 9) (Modulator)3 |
Slot 10 Definitive |
Slot 11 Addressee honorific |
Slot 12 Verb-final suffix | |||
오〮/우〮 (-wó/wú-) | 으〮니〮/ᄋᆞ〮니〮 (-úní/óní-) | 으〮ᅌᅵ/ᄋᆞ〮ᅌᅵ (-úngì/óngì-, very deferential) ㆁ (-ng-, deferential) |
See Template:okm-sentence enders for sentence-final ones | |||
Examples | ||||||
기르ᅀᆞᄫᆞ〮시니〮ᅌᅵ다〮 (kìlù-zòWó-sì-ní-ngì-tá, “ brought up , .”, 月印釋譜 10:19) 주그리로〮소〮ᅌᅵ다〮 (cwùk-ùlì-lwós-wó-ngì-tá, “ shall die, !”, 月印釋譜 21:22) | ||||||
Notes | ||||||
1 Many additional emotive suffixes, which have not been listed here, are fusional compounds that etymologically incorporate non-emotive morphemes. For example, 닷〮 (-tás-), which is used when the speaker has made a realization about some past state, comes from a merger of the imperfective 더〮 (-té-) and the emotive morpheme ㅅ (-s-).
It is more appropriate to consider such suffixes as single-unit morphemes that belong to the slot for emotive suffixes, even if they also convey other information. They cause issues in the paradigmal order if they are broken down into their etymological constituents. And while the retrospective and confirmative suffixes share a slot and are hence mutually exclusive, 닷〮 (-tás-) has been attested as co-occurring with the latter. | ||||||
2 In the fifteenth century, only after Slot 7 is filled by the emotive suffix 돗〮 (-twós-), forming the sequence 돗〮더〮 (-twós-té-), used to emotively convey a realization made in the past.
In the sixteenth century, also appears after prospective 으〮리〮/ᄋᆞ〮리〮 (-úlí/olí-), forming the sequence 으〮리〮러〮/ᄋᆞ〮리〮러〮 (-úlí-lé/ólí-lé), used to convey a past state when something was about to happen. | ||||||
3 Taken when Slot 7 (emotive) is filled. | ||||||
Certain suffixes are mutually exclusive. |