Acquisition of Grammatical Function Words in Korean Children

Lee, Hee Ran; Chang, You-Kyung; Choi, Yu-Li; Lee, Seungbok

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2008;13(2): 159-173.

Hee Ran Lee^` , You-Kyung Chang^` , Yu-Li Choi^` , and Seungbok Lee^`

이희란(Hee Ran Lee)| 장유경(You-Kyung Chang)| 최유리(Yu-Li Choi)| 이승복(Seungbok Lee)

ABSTRACT

Background & Objectives
The purpose of this study was to establish developmental norms of Korean children’s acquisition of final endings, case particles, and connective endings from longitudinal data gathered from 18 to 36 months.
Methods
Mothers of infants completed MCDI-K (Pae, 2003) at 18 (N = 323), 24 (N = 320), 30 (N = 298), and 36 (N = 276) months and the number of words in final endings, case particles, connective endings, and categories were analyzed.
Results
At 18 months of age, only a few children produced grammatical function words. However, the average number of grammatical function words was 12.0, 9.67, and 2.15 at 36 months for final endings, case particles, and connective endings categories, respectively. The number of grammatical function words increased with age. By 36 months, most children in the study used grammatical function words. However, there were individual differences in the use of grammatical function words.
Discussion & Conclusion
The results of this longitudinal study suggest that Korean children start to produce grammatical function words at 18 months and most children use grammatical function words by 36 months. The implications of these results on language development and on interventions for children with language deficits are discussed.