Work

Developmental Pattern and Age-Predictive Power of Pre-Final Endings (Seoneomal-eomi) use in Korean Children Aged 2–5 Years

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Objectives: Pre-final endings (Seoneomal-eomi) are essential grammatical morphemes in Korean that express tense, honorification, and modality, reflecting not only morphosyntactic development but also cognitive and pragmatic development. This study investigated the developmental patterns of pre-final ending use and their predictive power for chronological age in typically developing Korean children aged 2–5 years. Methods: Spontaneous language samples were collected from 240 typically developing Korean children aged 2–5 years. Morphological analyses were conducted using the Korean Automatic Language Analysis System (K-ALAS), and pre-final endings were classified into tense, honorification, and modality. Token frequency and type frequency were calculated for the overall category and each subcategory. One-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were performed. Results: Both token and type frequencies of overall pre-final endings increased significantly with age, with children aged 4–5 years demonstrating significantly higher performance than those aged 2–3 years. Past tense endings showed the highest token and type frequencies and increased significantly with age. Honorific endings increased significantly in the 5-year-old group, whereas conjectural modality endings increased significantly in the 4-year-old group. Overall pre-final ending use explained 22.4% of the variance in chronological age, with past tense token frequency showing the greatest predictive power. Conclusion: Korean pre-final endings undergo substantial quantitative and qualitative development beginning around 3–4 years of age, and past tense endings were identified as the most sensitive indicator of morphosyntactic development. The present study provides normative developmental data on Korean pre-final endings and offers a useful foundation for language assessment and clinical intervention in preschool children.

Source: Eon'eo cheong'gag jang'ae yeon'gu/Communication sciences & disorders

DOI: 10.12963/csd.260252

Authors: YoonKyoung Lee, Sojung Oh, Suah Lim, DaHyeon Lee, SeoHyeon Lee

Institutions: Hallym University, Tongmyong University

Language: English

Topic: Language Development and Disorders

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: Ministry of Education, National Research Foundation of Korea

Award: G5025000084