주체높임을 나타내는 어미 ‘-(으)ㅂ시-’의 발달 ― {-시-}의 형성과 ‘-(으)ㅂ시-’에 이른 변화 ―

Abstract

This paper aims to explain the development of the pre-final ending -(u)psi- indicating subject-honorification in Korean. The degree of honorificity of -(u)psi- is higher than that of another subject-honorific marker -(u)si-. It is believed that -(u)psi- is the descendant of Middle Korean {-sopsi-} (-zopsi-/-sopsi-/-copsi-), which I interpret to be a fused form of the two pre-final endings {-sop-} and {-usi-}. {-sop-} has three types of allomorphs -zop-/-zoW-～-sop-/-soW～ -cop-/-coW- and normal sequences of {-sop-} and {-usi-} are -zoWosi- (/zʌßʌsi/), -soWosi- and -coWosi-. {-sop-} denotes respect for the person referred to by the noun in the verb phrase. According to the social relationship between the speaker, the hearer, the person referred to by the subject, and the person referred to by the noun in the verb phrase, there are four cases: one in which both {-sop-} and {-usi-} are necessary, one in which only {-sop-} is necessary, one in which only {-usi-} is necessary, and one in which neither {-sop-} nor {-usi-} is necessary. Speakers of Middle Korean had to make judgments instantaneously about which to choose among the four cases and may have often made errors. For example, they may have often produced pwo-zop-kwo instead of pwo-si-kwo by error. They may have often realized the error before completing pwo-zop-kwo and attempted to correct the error. In those cases pwo-zopsi-kwo may have often been produced. Hence came the fused form {-sopsi-}, I believe. The fused form {-sopsi-} created by error was reinterpreted as a form indicating higher honorificity than {-usi-} and thus it could survive. In Present-day Korean the descendant of {-sop-} is -p-/-sup- (postvocalic vs. postconsonantal allomorph) and so the expected descendant of {-sopsi-} is -psi-/-supsi-. However, the real one is -psi-/-upsi-, i.e. -(u)psi-. This situation is explained as follows. The expected descendant of the postconsonantal -sopsi-/-copsi- is -supsi-. But the former had already been replaced by -sowosi-/-cowosi- before the 17th century. The replacement is interpreted to be the effect of a dissimilatory force. Korean has a tendency to avoid two s sounds occurring in adjacent syllables, which is a fact that has emerged in this paper. The avoidance may be due to the feature [+strident] of s sound. Now -psi-/-upsi- should be regarded as the descendant of -opsi-/-sowosi-/-cowosi-. The overwhelming frequency of the postvocalic -opsi- made it extend its distribution to the postconsonantal position and -sowosi-/-cowosi- disappeared eventually. The initial vowel of -opsi- was deleted postvocalically and we have -psi-/-upsi- today.