Verbal Base of Korean

Romanising method is Shibu Shohei System.

 1. Analysis of Korean Conjugation by Using a Concept of "Verbal Base" 

    A verbal form of Korean language consists of two parts: stem and ending. As for the forms meg-nyn-da, meg-'y-mien and meg-'e-se, which are conjugated forms of verb meg-da 'eat', scholars in South Korea consider meg- as its stem.
    Some Korean linguists in Japan, on the other hand, consider that verbal stem has several variants. They think that the stem of meg-nyn-da is meg-, the stem of meg-'y-mien is meg-'y-, and the stem of meg-'e-se is meg-'e-. Scholar in South Korea think that vowels -y- and -a-/-e- belong to the ending. But some scholars in Japan think that they are components of stem, and they call each variant such as meg-, meg-'y or meg-'e- "(verbal) base". Therefore, stem is considered as the whole of bases in this grammar. We will now call such a grammar theory "verbal base grammar".
    In verbal base grammar, verbal stem is divided into three variants: the form of root itself is called "first base", the form of root with vowel -y- is "second base" and the form of root with vowel -a-/-e- is "third base" (Middle Korean had "fourth base", that is the form of root with vowel -o-/-u-).

 2. Verbal Stem and Ending 

    Most of South Korean linguists think that each verbal ending or suffix has variants: -mien/-'y-mien, -'ass-/-'ess-. In verbal base grammar, on the other hand, scholars consider that it only has a simple form because they think that -y- and -a-/-e- belong to stem: -mien, -ss-. Remarkable character is that endings and suffixes select a certain type of base. For example, ending -go must follow first base, -mien must come after second base and -se must be put after third base; they are expressed like "I-go", "II-mien", "III-se". Conjugational paradigm of Korean verb is as follows:
Kind of stemSample 1st base2nd base3rd base
Consonantal bad-da 'receive'bad-bad-'y-bad-'a-
meg-da 'eat'meg-meg-'y-meg-'e-
Vocalic bo-da 'look'bo-bo-'a-
ju-da 'give'ju-ju-'e-
Following items -go, -ny-nia
-geiss- etc.
-mien, -ni
-si- etc.
-se, zero ending
-ss- etc.
 3. r-stem and y-stem 

    Verbs with r on the end of stem are considered as irregular verbs in South Korea. In verbal base grammar they are thought as regular verbs called "r-stem verbs". They differ with regard to how to define irregular verbs. Verbs with d on the end of stem such as mud-da 'ask', conjugated as mur-'y-mien or mur-'e-se, are considered as irregular. The reason why they are thought as irregular is that their conjugated forms cannot be derived from the infinitive by rules regular verbs that apply to (The conjugated forms of verb mud-da 'bury' can be derived from the infinitive by regular rules: mud-'y-mien, mud-'e-se). On the other hand, verbs with r at the end of stem like ar-da 'know' have only one regular conjugation system, therefore they are considered as regular verbs. Verbs with y at the end of stem are the same (but there are some irregular verbs such as ry-stem, re-stem).
Kind of stemSample 1st base2nd base3rd base
r-stem 'ar-da 'know''ar- / 'a-'ar-'a-
mer-da 'far'mer- / me-mer-'e-
y-stem dda-ry-da 'follow'dda-ry-dda-ra-
ssy-da 'use'ssy-sse-
Following items -go, -ny-nia
-geiss- etc.
-mien, -ni
-si- etc.
-se, zero ending
-ss- etc.
    In r-stem the forms of 1st and 2nd base are the same as in the vocalic stem, but r-stem has two variants, one with r and, the other without r. Selection of variants depends on the first sound of the following suffix or ending:
Without ri, d(partial), r(end of syllable), b, s
With rg, d, r(top of syllable), m, j
 4. Irregular Stem 
Kind of stemSample 1st base2nd base3rd base
Irregular d dyd-da 'listen'dyd-dyr-'ydyr-'e
Irregular b deb-da 'hot'deb-de-'u-de-'ue-
Irregular s jis-da 'make'jis-ji-'y-ji-'e-
Irregular h gy-reh-da 'such'gy-reh-gy-re-gy-rai-
Irregular ry bu-ry-da 'call'bu-ry-bur-re-
Irregular re pu-ry-da 'blue'pu-ry-pu-ry-re-
Irregular ha ha-da 'do'ha-ha-'ie-
Following items -go, -ny-nia
-geiss- etc.
-mien, -ni
-si- etc.
-se, zero ending
-ss- etc.
    Conjugation of irregular verbs is generally explained in South Korea as "gy-reh- + -mien -- gy-re-mien", "gy-reh- + -'e-se -- gy-rai-se". But it does not systematically explain disappearance and changing of y and -a-/-e- as observed in verbal endings such as -'y-mien, -'e-se. In verbal base grammar it is explained by the same way as regular verbs: "II-mien", "III-se. Forms of stem are also explained systematically.

 5. Conjugation of Suffix 

    In verbal base grammar, linguists think that suffixes also have conjucational system by "base". The system is the same as verbal stem.
Suffix 1st base2nd base3rd base
-geiss- (probability) -geiss--geiss-'y--geiss-'e-
-ss- (past tense) -ss--ss-'y--ss-'e-
-si- (respect) -si--sie-
    According to the analysis mentioned above, we can analyse the word form 'irg-'y-siess-geiss-'y-ni 'because he would read' as follows:
'irg-'y--sie--ss--geiss-'y--ni
2nd base form
of 'irg-
3rd base form of
suffix -si- which
follows 2nd base
1st base form of
suffix -ss- which
follows 3rd base
2nd base form of
suffix -geiss- which
follows 1st base
verbal ending which
follows 2nd base
 References 

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