Acceptability of some Korean lexical items judged by Korean L1 and L2 Speakers

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the acceptability of the use of some Korean lexical items in contextualized sentences. Motivated by contradictory views of two practicing teachers/linguists in KFL on some lexical items produced in learners’ compositions, I have selected six items (three in pairs) as a sample on the basis of the ambiguity and subtlety in their differences and investigated how Korean L1 and L2 speakers judge the use of the items for each specific context. The subjects are two groups: Korean L1 (25) and L2 (16) speakers residing in Sydney. A survey method was used to collect the data. A survey questionnaire consisted of six sentences containing the lexical items in question, and the subjects were asked to indicate how acceptable they think each lexical item is in the sentences, by choosing one of the responses given in four-point scale. The two groups shared the same distribution pattern of percentages in all items except one in overall positive and negative responses. But there are some differences between the two groups in the evaluation of ‘extremely or a little awkward’ lexical items. L2 speakers seem to evaluate the use of those items less severely than L1 speakers.