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Chapter 8. Old Japanese bigrade paradigms and Korean passives and causatives

  • James M. Unger
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Paradigm Change
This chapter is in the book Paradigm Change

Abstract

There is a consensus that two Old Japanese (OJ, 8th c. ce) verb paradigms, called bigrade, were not present in proto-Japanese (pJ, 1st millennium BCE). There is less agreement on how the bigrades originated and how many unitary pJ vowels their reconstruction requires. I argue here that bigrade verbs began as a proto-Korean-Japanese (pKJ) passive or inchoative formation, and that six unitary pJ vowels (allowing intrasyllabic glides) suffice to capture the observed alternations of bigrade and all other verb stems. An alleged seventh pJ vowel, *ɨ, is not needed, though it may have been present in proto-Korean-Japanese. The pKJ reconstructed passive may have been an innovation that distinguished it from other Macro-Tungusic branches.

Abstract

There is a consensus that two Old Japanese (OJ, 8th c. ce) verb paradigms, called bigrade, were not present in proto-Japanese (pJ, 1st millennium BCE). There is less agreement on how the bigrades originated and how many unitary pJ vowels their reconstruction requires. I argue here that bigrade verbs began as a proto-Korean-Japanese (pKJ) passive or inchoative formation, and that six unitary pJ vowels (allowing intrasyllabic glides) suffice to capture the observed alternations of bigrade and all other verb stems. An alleged seventh pJ vowel, *ɨ, is not needed, though it may have been present in proto-Korean-Japanese. The pKJ reconstructed passive may have been an innovation that distinguished it from other Macro-Tungusic branches.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xv
  5. List of contributors xvii
  6. Acknowledgements xix
  7. Chapter 1. When paradigms change 1
  8. Part I. Paradigm change
  9. Chapter 2. On the strength of morphological paradigms 23
  10. Chapter 3. Derivational paradigms in diachrony and comparison 61
  11. Chapter 4. On arguing from diachrony for paradigms 89
  12. Chapter 5. Reconstructing the Niger-Congo Verb Extension Paradigm 103
  13. Part II. The continuation of paradigms
  14. Chapter 6. Perceived formal and functional equivalence 129
  15. Chapter 7. Comparative consequences of the tongue root harmony analysis for proto-Tungusic, proto-Mongolic, and proto-Korean 141
  16. Chapter 8. Old Japanese bigrade paradigms and Korean passives and causatives 177
  17. Chapter 9. The Japanese inflectional paradigm in a Transeurasian perspective 197
  18. Part III. The innovation of paradigms
  19. Chapter 10. A Yakut copy of a Tungusic viewpoint aspect paradigm 235
  20. Chapter 11. Amdo Altaic directives and comparatives based on the verb ‘to see’ 243
  21. Chapter 12. Innovations and archaisms in Siberian Turkic spatial case paradigms 257
  22. Chapter 13. Paradigm copying in Tungusic 287
  23. Chapter 14. Ural-Altaic 311
  24. Language index 337
  25. Subject index 343
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.161.14ung

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of tables ix
  4. List of figures xv
  5. List of contributors xvii
  6. Acknowledgements xix
  7. Chapter 1. When paradigms change 1
  8. Part I. Paradigm change
  9. Chapter 2. On the strength of morphological paradigms 23
  10. Chapter 3. Derivational paradigms in diachrony and comparison 61
  11. Chapter 4. On arguing from diachrony for paradigms 89
  12. Chapter 5. Reconstructing the Niger-Congo Verb Extension Paradigm 103
  13. Part II. The continuation of paradigms
  14. Chapter 6. Perceived formal and functional equivalence 129
  15. Chapter 7. Comparative consequences of the tongue root harmony analysis for proto-Tungusic, proto-Mongolic, and proto-Korean 141
  16. Chapter 8. Old Japanese bigrade paradigms and Korean passives and causatives 177
  17. Chapter 9. The Japanese inflectional paradigm in a Transeurasian perspective 197
  18. Part III. The innovation of paradigms
  19. Chapter 10. A Yakut copy of a Tungusic viewpoint aspect paradigm 235
  20. Chapter 11. Amdo Altaic directives and comparatives based on the verb ‘to see’ 243
  21. Chapter 12. Innovations and archaisms in Siberian Turkic spatial case paradigms 257
  22. Chapter 13. Paradigm copying in Tungusic 287
  23. Chapter 14. Ural-Altaic 311
  24. Language index 337
  25. Subject index 343
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