THE KOREAN LANGUAGE. 807 



Korean as in most of the Turanian languages the idea of gender is ver}^ 

 imperfectly developed, which argues perhaps a lack of imagination. 

 The ideas of person and number are largeh^ left to the context for 

 determination, but in the matter of logical sequence the Korean verb 

 is carried to the extreme of development. 



The Korean's keen sense of social distinctions has given rise to a 

 complete system of honorifics, whose proper use is essential to a 

 rational use of the language. And yet numerous as these may l)e their 

 use is so regulated ])y unwritten law and there are so few exceptions 

 that they are far easier to master than the personal terminations of 

 Indo-European verbs. The granunatical superiority of Korean over 

 many of the western languages is that while in the latter dift'erences 

 of gender, nuiuber, and person, which would usually be perfectl}' clear 

 from the context, are carefully noted, in the Korean these are left to 

 the speaker's and the hearer's perspicacity and attention is concentrated 

 upon a terse and luminous collocation of ideas; which is often secured 

 in the west onl v by a tedious circumlocution. 



The genius of the language has led the Korean to express every pos- 

 sible verbal relation by a separate modal form. The extent to which 

 this has been carried can be shown onh' by illustration. Besides 

 having simple forms to express the different tenses and the different 

 modes, indicative, potential, conditional, imperative, infinitive, it has 

 simple forms to express all those luore delicate verbal relations which 

 in English require a circumlocution or the use of various adverbs. 

 For instance, the Korean has a special mode to express necessity, con- 

 tingency, surprise, reproof, antithesis, conjunction, temporal sequence, 

 logical sequence, interruption, duration of time, limit of time, acqui- 

 escence, expostulation, interrogation, promise, exhortation, impreca- 

 tion, desire, doubt, hypothesis, satisfaction, propriety", concession, 

 intention, decision, probability, possibility, prohibition, simultaneity, 

 continuity, repetition, inf requency, hearsa}', agenc}^, contempt, ability, 

 and many other relations. Each one of these ideas can be expressed 

 in coimection with an}" active verb by the simple addition of one or 

 more inseparable suffixes. By far the greater number of these suffixes 

 are monosyllables. 



To illustrate the delicate shades of thought that can be expressed bj' 

 the addition of a suffix, let us take the English expression ''1 was 

 going along the road, when suddenly !"' This, without any thing- 

 more, implies that the act of going was interrupted by some unfore- 

 seen circumstance. This would be expressed in Korean by three 

 little words n{i-ga="I,'' kil-e = "along the road," ka-ta-ga=*' was 

 going, when suddenly ." The stem of the verb is ka and the sud- 

 den interruption of the action is expressed by the ending ta-ga; and, 

 what is more, this ending has absolutely no other use. It is reserved 



SM 1903 52 



