The Acquisition of Japanese Conjunctive Particles by Korean Learners

Abstract

This paper analyzes the use of conjunctive particles in Japanese found in the formal speech of 4 Korean learners in Osaka, Japan. The data was collected through a longitudinal research where each subject was interviewed 3 times. It consists of 12 speeches with a total of 8 hours. The results of the analysis showed that both internal and external factors to language affect the learners’ acquisition order and the use of the particles. The internal factors are the following: (1) the acquisition order of these particles depends on the more or less tight relation between the elements of the sentence; (2) the particles “kedo” and “te” are acquired in early stages and their use is stable; (3) “tara” is also acquired in early stages and its use is stable. As for the external factors, the following points were observed: (1) the high frequency of “tara” in the data reflects the influence of the variation of Japanese language used in Osaka, where the learners lived; (2) the learners perceived the difference between “kara” and “node” as a stylistic variation; (3) the particular use of “ga” by the learner KS2 can be considered a reproduction of the use of this particle in textbooks.