The Acquisition of Korean Number-Word Systems of Young Children

한국유아의 수단어 획득에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate the acquisition of number-word systems of young children. Specifically, the acquisition of Korean Number-Words(KNW) was compared with the acquisition of Chinese-derived Number-Words(CNW). The subjects included 120 children aged 2:5 to 5:11. The subjects oral counting using the two number word systems were audiotaped. Two coders transcribed the tapes. The data were analyzed by content analysis with descriptive statistics. The findings of this study showed that the acquisition of KNW began from around age two and the acquisition of CNW from around age three. From then, the acquisition of the two number-word systems was parallel. The acquisition of number-words began from the age of 2 years, increased slowly to the age of 4. and then increased rapidly after the age of 5. Although KNW were acquired earlier than CNW, at around the age of 5 years the acquisition of CNW surpassed the acquisition of KNW. The acquisition of number words consists of four developmental levels: Level I: beginning of acquisition of traditional KNW only Level II: beginning of acquisition of CNW with extension of KNW Level III: parallel extension of the two number-word systems Level IV: superior acquisition of CNW. The major error through all stages in the sequence of number words was the omission of one number-word. Younger children produced errors of omission of one, two or three number-words, whereas older children produced errors of nonstandard number-words and repetition.