Javanese -aké and -akən: A Short History

Evidence from various Javanese dialects is presented to show that the standard Javanese transitive suffixes -aké and -akən have only recently become part of the Javanese morpheme inventory. They have replaced an earlier transitive suffix *-(ʔ)ən, which is still reflected in Tengger Javanese and in marginal positions in standard Javanese.

The acquisition of -aké and -akən in standard Javanese happened independently of the acquisition of -akən 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 -akən to Javanese and other languages is an areal feature. The replacement of *-(ʔ)ən by -akən may have been motivated by a need to reduce the high functional load of *-(ʔ)ən. The form -aké is tentatively explained as a low register back-formation from -akən.