Emphatics in Spoken Interlanguage of Chinese Learners of L2 Korean

Abstract

This study explores the distribution of linguistic devices that L2 learners of Korean utilize in order to express emphasis. The data elicited from 30 Chinese migrant workers were analyzed based on a taxonomy of emphatic markers consisting of three broad categories: morpho-lexical markers, focus particles, and syntactic constructions. The overall patterns emerging from the data analysis are as follows: 1) L2 proficiency closely interacted with the learners’ ability to employ various types of emphatic constructions; 2) the lexical emphatics were in a negative relation with L2 proficiency whereas the focus particles showed a positive relation; 3) although no clear interaction was shown between L2 proficiency and use of syntactic emphatics, the ratio of lexical to syntactic emphatics decreased in accordance with the learners’ L2 proficiency; and 4)limited variety and overreliance on a few items were observed across the three groups despite a relatively long period of residence in Korea, which were attributed to the L2 learning contexts of the migrant workers. Future research comparing the performance of uninstructed learners with that of instructed learners is suggested to complement the result of the current study.