Japanese and Korean are similar structurally grammatically and structurally, and thus it is undeniable that, compared to native speakers of other languages, Japanese and Koreans can learn each other’s language with relative ease. However, there are ...
Japanese and Korean are similar structurally grammatically and structurally, and thus it is undeniable that, compared to native speakers of other languages, Japanese and Koreans can learn each other’s language with relative ease. However, there are several subtle differences regarding elements of the two languages; the fact such elements may at first glance look the same, yet actually be subtly different, is a point of difficulty for Korean learners of Japanese and Japanese learners of Korean.
In both languages, there are three demonstrative pronouns: “ko” “so” and “a” in Japanese and, correspondingly, “i” “keu” and “jeo” in Korean. In previous comparative linguistic research, it became clear that Japanese demonstrative pronouns possess more complex structure than their Korean counterparts. Such research-that is, research and surveys to show the difficulty for Koreans in learning correct contextual use of Japanese demonstratives-has been carried out in great depth and amount; however, research on Japanese learning usage of Korean demonstratives has been rare. Previously, regarding learners of Japanese, the point of contention was whether such learners used demonstratives incorrectly due to influence from their native languages, or whether such incorrect usage was unrelated to learners’ native languages (as evidenced by similar mistakes committed by people with different native languages). In order determine whether native language matters, we must carry out research not only Korean learners of Japanese, but also Japanese learners of Korean. Furthermore, we must study not only contextual use of demonstratives but also physical use, i.e. the description of items’ physical locations with respect to the speaker.
With the above in mind, in this study, we carried out questionnaire surveys of both Korean learners of Japanese and Japanese learners of Korean with regard to contextual and physical use of demonstratives, and analyzed the results. The questionnaire prompts were based on the categorizations of Song, who conducted comparative research on Japanese and Korean from the perspective of second-language acquisition. The prompts were based on independent physical usage of physical demonstratives (“ko” series and “a” series; 1 prompt each, for a total of 2 prompts), combined use of relative physical demonstratives (“ko” series, “so” series, and “a” series; 2 prompts each, for a total of 6 prompts), contrastive use of relative physical demonstratives (“ko” series and “so” series; 1 prompt each, for a total of 2 prompts), independent topical use of contextual demonstratives (“ko” series, “so” series, and “a” series; 2 prompts each, for a total of 6 prompts), relative topical usage ( “so” series, and “a” series; 2 prompts each, for a total of 4 prompts), and simple corresponding usage (“ko” series and “so” series, 2 prompts each, for a total of 4 prompts), with a grand total of 24 prompts. For questionnaires completed by Japanese learners of Korean, the above prompts were translated from Japanese into Korean.
As a result of the survey, Korean learners of Japanese showed a high rate of correctly answering prompts where the Japanese demonstratives had exact corresponding equivalents in Korean; moreover, the score improved with an increase in length of time studying Japanese, which showed Korean’s smooth progression in learning of Japanese demonstratives. However, in prompts where there were no exact corresponding equivalents in Korean, Koreans answered correctly less often, and the ability to answer correctly did not seem correlated with length of time studying Japanese, which shows that Koreans have trouble progressing with regards to learning such Japanese demonstratives. In conclusion, whether for physical demonstratives or contextual demonstratives, Koreans have difficulty learning correct Japanese demonstrative usage in cases where usage differs from Korean, and such usage mistakes result from interference by Koreans’ native language. Similarly, Japanese learners of Korean answered incorrectly more often on prompts where usage of Korean demonstratives did not correspond exactly to Japanese. However, in contrast to Korean learners of Japanese, the rate of correct answers on such prompts of Japanese learners of Koreans was positively correlated with length of time of Korean study, showing an ability to negate the interference of their native language, Japanese. This result supports the fact that Japanese demonstratives possess more complex structure than Korean demonstratives.
By conducting research on not only the learning of contextual demonstratives by Korean learners of Japanese, but also on the learning of contextual and physical demonstratives by Japanese learners of Korean, we were able to more clearly understand the usages where mistakes occur often and the reasons for such mistakes. We hope this study proves useful for learners of Korean and Japanese in learning demonstratives, as well as for teachers of Korean and Japanese in teaching demonstratives.
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