Assessing language knowledge in Jeju: Vocabulary and verbal patterns in Jejueo and English

ABSTRACT

Tests of vocabulary and verbal patterns in Jejueo and English reveal that the acquisition of the former language is in sharp decline, while progress in the latter language reaches a developmental plateau after high school. This dissertation investigates the acquisition of Jejueo and English on Jeju Island, a province of Korea located approximately 45 miles off the southern coast of the Korean peninsula. Jejueo, which was recognized as an endangered language by UNESCO in 2010, is primarily spoken between family members and close friends, while Korean is used in other contexts, including school. This is the first study of the acquisition of Jejueo and also the first attempt to compare fluency in that language with fluency in Korean and with proficiency in English, which is taught as a compulsory foreign language in schools from Grade 3 to college for two to five hours per week but is rarely heard outside that setting.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Core University Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies;The Academy of Korean Studies and Center for Korean Studies [AKS-2015-OLU-2250005].