The Early Phonological Development of Korean Children

Jung, Kyung Hee; Pae, Soyeong; Kim, Gisook

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2006;11(3): 1-15.

Kyung Hee Jung^` , Soyeong Pae^` , and Gisook Kim^`

정경희(Kyung Hee Jung)| 배소영(Soyeong Pae)| 김기숙(Gisook Kim)

ABSTRACT

This research examined the phonological characteristics of normally developing 12-, 18- and 24-month-old Korean children, with a focus on consonant inventory, syllable types and phonemic word structure. Approximately 25-minute communication data were collected for each child using play materials. With increasing child age, the number of consonants also increased both in the syllable-initial position(2.4, 7.5, and 11.6 for 12-, 18- and 24-month-olds, respectively) and in the syllable-final position (1.0, 2.9, and 4.2, respectively). Most commonly used consonants were nasals and plosives, and the fortis plosives were produced more than aspirated plosives. Liquid /l/ was produced on the syllable-final position. The ratio of the closed syllables to the total number of syllables was lower than that of the open syllables, which confirms the universal preference for open syllable types among Korean infants. The phonemic structure of words increased in diversity and complexity with increasing age, although individual differences were observed.