Abstract
The problem of the verbal conjugation system that Basil Hall Chamberlain presented in his “Essay in Aid of a Grammar and Dictionary of the Luchuan Language, ” 1895, still remains to be solved. Examination of the Chinese and Korean documents with camparative study of the different Luchuan dialects leads us to the following conclusion.
The ultimate vowel of the conclusive form changed to the palatal vowel unless an enclitic particle adhered, and the conclusive form of the first conjugation became similar to the indefinite form, and analogy worked and the ultimate syllable -ri of the conclusive form of the second, third conjugations etc. adhered, just as an enclitic particle, to the conclusive form preserving the velar vowel of the first conjugation. As the analogical form prevailed, analogy reflexively worked upon the conclusive form of the second, third conjugations etc.
Sound shift in the ultimate syllable of the conclusive form generally followed:-ru >-ri and -ri >-mi >-ii, and caused the palatalization of the consonant of the penultimate syllable in the dialects of the main region of the Ryukyu Islands.
