Javanese -ake and -akan: A Short History

Abstract

Evidence from various Javanese dialects is presented to show that the standard Javanese transitive suffixes -aké and -ak∂n have only recently become part of the Javanese morpheme inventory. They have replaced an earlier transitive suffix *-(?)∂n, which is still reflected in Tengger Javanese and in marginal positions in standard Javanese. The acquisition of -aké and -ak∂n in standard Javanese happened independently of the acquisition of-ak∂n in Old Javanese. This allows a different perspective on the position of Old Javanese in the classification of Javanese dialects: it is most likely not a direct predecessor of standard Javanese. The spread of -ak∂n to Javanese and other languages is an are..