-ㅅ-

ㅅ -ㅅ Jeju Etymology Cognate with okm - -ㅅ -s. Interfix jje interfix -s- -ㅅ- genitive marker sometimes placed between a vowel-final syllable of the first constituent and a syllable of the second constituent when forming compounds, and also after a locative marker when attributing a noun. Korean Etymology From ko okm - -ㅅ -s inanimate or honorific genitive particle, from ko oko 叱 -s inanimate genitive particle. Possibly cognate with the rare and ancient -s- genitive interfix in Japanese, as in ja 春雨 harusame. Pronunciation The actual underlying phoneme in Contemporary Korean remains disputed, although it was historically /s/ and is therefore written as such. The surface realization is as follows: After a vowel and before an obstruent: Tensing of the subsequent obstruent (prescriptively preferred), or [t̚] After a sonorant consonant and before an obstruent: Tensing of the subsequent obstruent Before a nasal consonant: [n] (prescriptively preferred), or full assimilation with the nasal Interfix ko interfix -s- The saitsori or "genitive -s-", a marker used between the components of many (but not all) compound nouns, typically when the components have a genitive relationship or when the first component is attributive. ko 치(齒)<t:tooth> -ㅅ- 솔<t:brush> 칫솔<t:toothbrush> ko 새<t:east> -ㅅ- 별<t:star> 샛별<t:morning star> star of the east ko 나무<t:tree> -ㅅ- 잎<t:leaf> 나뭇잎<t:tree leaf><tr:namunnip> ko 바다<t:sea> -ㅅ- 물<t:water> 바닷물<t:seawater><tr:badanmul> ko 저#Etymology_3<t:chopstick><tr:jeo> -ㅅ- 가락<t:rod> 젓가락<t:chopstick> chopstick sticks ko 뒤<t:future> -ㅅ- 일<t:occurrence> 뒷일<t:aftermath><tr:dwinnil> later things Usage notes This morpheme can surface only in the following environments: After a vowel and before a consonant or /i/ After a sonorant consonant, i.e. a nasal or liquid, and before an obstruent If it is followed by /i/ or /j/, the interfix /n/ intervenes between the morpheme and the second element: hence ko 뒷일 later things dwinnil is realized as [twinnil] rather than [twiɕil]. While the morpheme may theoretically also be present between obstruent consonants, its tensing effects are indistinguishable from the regular tensing of an obstruent when preceded by another obstruent. Therefore, its existence cannot be ascertained in those compound nouns. The existence of the interfix in specific words varies greatly depending on age and location. Two compounds involving the same morpheme and with similar semantics may still differ in their use of the interfix: there is tensing in ko 비빔밥 bibimbap, a rice dish with mixed ingredients but not in ko 비빔국수 bibim-guksu, a noodle dish with mixed ingredients, despite effectively identical semantics. In Sino-Korean, compare: ko 불법(佛法) Buddha's law bulbeop without tensing but ko 신법(神法) god's law sinppeop with tensing ko 소수(小數) decimal number sosu without tensing but ko 소수(素數) prime number sossu with tensing With compound Sino-Korean words, the interfix appears (in the form of tensing) only before certain hanja, sometimes even in non-genitive or non-attributive constructions. A leading hypothesis is that the interfix has a tendency to appear in Sino-Korean compounds which are still transparent compounds in modern Korean. For instance, ko 병(病) disease is tensed in ko 화병(火病) sickness from frustration hwappyeong because Koreans perceive the word as a compound of ko 화(火) anger, frustration and ko 병(病) disease. It is not tensed in ko 나병(癩病) leprosy nabyeong because ko 나(癩) in isolation is not a valid morpheme in Korean, and the word is therefore not perceived as a compound by Korean speakers. Nonetheless, a recent study (Yu 2019) notes that it appears impossible to posit any satisfactory semantic explanation that explains all cases of Sino-Korean tensing. The extremely common word ko 거 thing is always preceded by the interfix in genitive constructions, and ko 속 inside is also very commonly preceded by it: ko 니 꺼 your thing - from ko 니 you + ko -ㅅ- + ko 거 thing ko 일본 꺼 something from Japan - from ko 일본(日本) Japan + ko -ㅅ- + ko 거 thing ko 컴퓨터 쏙 inside the computer - from ko 컴퓨터 computer + ko -ㅅ- + ko 속 inside Contrast with non-genitive forms, with no tensing: ko 차가운 거 cold thing, something which is cold ko 속-이 안 좋아 I have a stomachache However, these are usually analyzed as special allomorphs of these common words, rather than as the morpheme continuing to function as a true particle. In North Korea, the morpheme is normally pronounced but not written except in 웃-. In the South Korean prescriptive standard, it is only written under the following conditions: The first component of the compound word ends in a vowel At least one of the components is a native word, with six exceptions in which it occurs in entirely Sino-Korean words. The exceptions are ko 툇간(退間) toetkkan, ko 셋방(貰房) setppang, ko 곳간(庫間) gotkkan, ko 찻간(車間) chatkkan, ko 숫자(數字) sutjja and ko 횟수(回數) hoetssu. It is unwritten in other conditions. In practice, it is often omitted even when it should prescriptively be written. The latter criterion did not exist in South Korea until 1988, and Sino-Korean words were also prescriptively written with the morpheme if the first element ended with a vowel: ko 잇과(理科), ko 홋수(戶數) instead of current ko 이과(理科), ko 호수(戶數) This was deprecated in a 1988 spelling reform, except for six words which were excluded from the reform for unclear reasons, but certain officially deprecated spellings such as ko 갯수 for ko 개수(個數) number and ko 댓가 for ko 대가(代價) price remain widespread if nonstandard. See also For quantitative data on this morpheme in Sino-Korean compounds, including a list of tensing hanja and the percentage of words in which tensing occurs for each, see Appendix:Sino-Korean tensing. References The Korean Language 2000 Iksop Lee, S. Roberts Ramsey State University of New York Press Albany, New York 9780791448311 77—79 ko:노명희 Han'gugeo uimihak 43 2014 ko:한자어 형성과 기능 단위 159—185 ko:유경민 Han'gugeo uimihak 64 2019 ko:어말 일음절 한자의 경음화와 사전 정보 10.19033/sks.2019.6.64.85 85—106