Korean Journal of Child Studies 2010;31(6): 153-166.
만 3,4,5세 유아의 존댓말 습득에 관한 연구
김민진 , 박진이
A Study to the Acquisition of Honorific Markers by Three Four and Five year old Young Children
Min Jin Kim , Jin Lee Park
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine Korean young children`s acquisition of honorific expressions. The participants of the present study were 297 young children (ages 3-5 years) from Kyunggi province. The results of the study showed that young children acquire honorific markers in the order of hearer-honorific expressions, subject-honorific expressions, and then object-honorific expressions. Five-year old children acquired at least 75% of the hearer-honorific expressions. The result can be explained by the fact that most of them were used in greetings. Even though more than 90% of five-year old children acquired the subject-honorific marker si, the acquisition rates of subject honorific nouns and subject-honorific verbs were less than 10%. Finally, the acquisition rates of object honorific expressions were less than 20%, with the exception of the object-honorific noun ce. The results of the study suggest that educational programs should be developed in order to facilitate the acquisition of honorific markers in young children.