A Study on the Korean Language Acquisition of Children from Chinese Families in Korea: Focusing on Pronunciation and Vocabulary

재한중국인 가정 아동의 한국어 습득에 관한 연구 -발음과 어휘를 중심으로-

This study examined the language acquisition of children from Chinese families in Korea under the bilingual background of Korean and Chinese, focusing on pronunciation and vocabulary. First, in the analysis of pronunciation acquisition, children correctly realized the lenition, aspirated sound, glottalization, palatalization, nasalization, and liquidization while the realization of pronunciation rules for unfamiliar words was low. There were also errors caused when the application principles of pronunciation were not accurately understood or they were not partially acquired. Second, in the analysis of vocabulary acquisition, the acquisition of receptive vocabulary was in the order of verb, noun, and adjective while they clearly understood vocabulary used in the actual relationships with school, family, and peers. In the acquisition of productive vocabulary, they showed the 'meaning-centered principle' of learning the meaning of vocabulary first and then learning its form afterwards. The amount of study and exposure to Korean language had effects on the improvement of vocabulary. Even though this study focused on the errors and characteristics in the acquisition process of Korean pronunciation and vocabulary for children from Chinese families in Korea, it could not clearly find out which one would have greater effects on the acquisition of Korean language. However, lots of exchanges and experiences with surrounding environment and peer group had great effects on the language acquisition and language acquisition transfer of children.