A Study of Korean Adverb and Chinese Related Expressions: Focus on Adverb Form Ending ‘ge’

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to identify types of Chinese expression corresponding to Korean adverb ending ‘-ge’ and 2) to examine the word order between the ending and other adverbials. When its semantic function is a level, aspect and means, the ending matches Chinese postposition ‘-de/de-’; when referring to a result, state and assessment, it equals Chinese postposition ‘de-.’ Furthermore, it corresponds to the Chinese preposition ‘wei(le)-’ when the ending means a purpose, reason or cause. For its functions including descriptions of an actor, movement, result and level, the ending ‘-ge,’ as description on an actor, corresponds to the postposition ‘-de’, on movement to the postposition ‘-de/de-’, and on result and level of movement to the postposition ‘de-.’ In Korean, the adverbial ‘-ge’ is positioned between frequency and negation adverbs, whereas it is placed after frequency and negation adverbs in Chinese. It is probable that the information on the ending ‘-ge’ in regard to its meanings, functions, and word orders and on its corresponding Chinese expressions will be useful for both Korean and Chinese language education.