Cover not available
Article published In:
When Corpus Linguistics meets acquisition of Korean: Implications on the use of Korean corpora for developmental research on Korean
Edited by Gyu-Ho Shin
[Korean Linguistics 18:2] 2022
► pp. 209–238

Verb conjugation errors by learners of Korean

An entropy-based analysis of learner corpus

| Yonsei University , South Korea
This study aims to identify patterns of verb conjugation errors that learners of Korean manifest and the factors that influence these errors through an analysis of an error-annotated learner corpus. For this purpose, a paradigmatic relations-based description of language acquisition was proposed. The predictability of each conjugation class was estimated by way of entropy, a tool for measuring predictability. Using entropy allowed us to compare the regularity of each class in detail. The results showed that there are 332 verb conjugation errors that can be classified into three types of errors: errors with vowel endings, errors with lower entropy, and errors with higher entropy. The frequency of the first two types suggests that learners make errors when producing frequently used conjugated forms and with more predictable classes. Considering this study’s reproducibility and the reliability of its procedures and the results, its findings are expected to make a substantial contribution to the study of error analysis using error-annotated learner corpora.
Keywords: error-annotated learner corpus, verb conjugation, entropy, predictability
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Analysis of Korean error-annotated learner corpora
    • 2.2Korean verb conjugation and regularity
    • 2.3Transition of viewpoints: Syntagmatic relations-based description and paradigmatic relations-based description
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Regularity measurement using entropy
    • 3.2Analysis of conjugation errors in learner corpus
      • 3.2.1Information about the error-annotated corpus
      • 3.2.2Extracting paradigm predictive errors
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Analysis by type
    • 4.2Analysis by level
  • 5.Conclusion: Implications of the use of Korean corpora for developmental research on Korean
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 30 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/kl.20008.lee
References (41)
References
Ackerman, Farrell, James P. Blevins & Robert Malouf. 2009. Parts and wholes: Implicative patterns in inflectional paradigms. In Analogy of Grammar: Form and Acquisition ed by James P. Blevins & Juliette Blevins, 54–82. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chung, Kyeongjae. 2015. Historical change of the Korean conjugation system. Ph.D. dissertation. Korea University.
Corder, Stephen P. 1971. Idiosyncratic dialects and error analysis. Internation Review of Applied Linguistics 91: 147–159. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dagneaux, Estelle, Sharon Denness & Sylviane Granger. 1998. Computer-aided error analysis. System 26.2: 163–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis, Rod. 1997. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Granger, Sylviane, Joseph Hung & Stephanie Petch-Tyson (eds). 2002. Computer learner corpora, second language acquisition, and foreign language teaching. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Han, Songhwa. 2016. A study on the errors and use of the particle ‘un/nun’ by Korean learners: Focusing on their Korean proficiency and their native languages. Eomunlonchong 701: 111–151.Google Scholar
. 2018. The study of the usage and errors of Korean final endings. Grammar education 331: 165–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. & Andrea D. Sims. 2010. Understanding morphology (2nd ed.). London: Hoddor Education.Google Scholar
Hong, Hye Ran. 2007. Error analysis in grammatical collocation of KFL Learners: Focusing on learner’s corpus and advanced Korean learners’ composition. Cross-cultural studies 11.1: 23–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hopper, Paul J. & Elizabeth Closs Traugott. 2003. Grammaticalization (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Israel, Ross. 2014. Building a Korean particle error detection system from the ground up. Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University.
Kawasaki, Keigo. 2011. ‘Verbal Base Grammar’ and Middle Korean verbal conjugation. Morphology 13.2: 245–265.Google Scholar
Kim, Yu Mi. 2002. A study of error analysis of Korean learners by using “Learner Corpus”. Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language 271: 141–168.Google Scholar
Kim, You Jeong. 2005. Standards for error analysis of corpus by learners of Korean as a second language. Journal of Korean Language Education 16.1: 45–75.Google Scholar
Kim, Mikyung. 2017. An analysis of the Chinese KFL learners’ errors and usage patterns of Korean particles. Master’s thesis, Yonsei University.
Ko, Seok Ju, Sang Kyu Seo & Yun Jin Nam. 1999. Development of basic vocabulary semantic frequency dictionary for Korean language education. Research on Language and Information 11: 331–358.Google Scholar
Ko, Seok Ju, Mi Ok Kim, Je Yeol Kim, Sang Kyu Seo, Hui Jeong Chung & Song Hwa Han. 2004. Korean learners’ corpus and error analysis. Seoul: Hankookmunhwasa.Google Scholar
Landis, J. R. & G. G. Koch. 1977. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33.1: 159–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Jeong Hui. 2002. A study on error determination standard and classification in Korean education. Journal of Korean Language Education 13.1: 175–197.Google Scholar
Lee, Yong. 2013. An efficient teaching method for Korean irregular verbs by analogy. Teaching Korean as a Foreign Language 381: 163–195.Google Scholar
Lee, Sun-Hee, Markus Dickinson & Ross Israel. 2013. Corpus-based error analysis of Korean particles. In Proceedings of Learner Corpus Research. Corpora and Language in Use Series 1. Louvain University Press. Belgium.Google Scholar
Lee, Jin Ho. 2014. Lecture on Korean phonology. Seoul: Samkyungmunhwasa.Google Scholar
Lee, Keonhui. 2019. A study on irregular errors analysis of predicates focused on corpus of Korean beginning learners. Bilingual Research 761: 57–81.Google Scholar
Lee, Chanyoung. 2018. Description of verb conjugation based on paradigmatic relations and ‘regularity’. Morphology 20.1: 29–78.Google Scholar
. 2020. A study on error analysis of verb conjugation of Korean beginning learners. Language and Culture 16.2: 109–134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lennon, Paul. 1991. Error: Some problems of definition, identification, and distinction. Applied Linguitiscs 121: 180–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lim, Seok-kyu. 2004. Restructuring via reanalysis in verbal paradigms. Morphology 6.1: 1–23.Google Scholar
Liu, Wenming. 2019. Error analysis of objective case postpositions of Chinese Korean learners. The Language and Culture 15.1: 223–249. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
National Institute of Korean Language. 2018. 2018 Project on research and construction of the Korean Learner Corpus (2018-01-49). Retrieved from [URL]
Park, Mi Young, So Young Lee & Hyun Jin Lee. 1999. A study of the development of grammar test items on the basis of student’s error. Journal of Korean Language Education 10.1: 141–171.Google Scholar
Selinker, Larry. 1972. Interlanguage. Product Information International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 101: 209–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seo, Hyuk. 1992. Errors of learners of Korean and direction of textbook composition. Senchengemwun 20.1: 265–292.Google Scholar
Seo, Sang Kyu, Hyun Kyung Yu & Yun Jin Nam. 2002. Korean learner’s corpus and Korean education. Journal of Korean Language Education 13.1: 127–156.Google Scholar
Shannon, Claude. 1948. A mathematical theory of communication. The Bell System Technical Journal 271: 379–423. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1951. Prediction and entropy of printed English, The Bell System Technical Journal 301: 50–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stump, Gregory T. & Raphael A. Finkel. 2013. Morphological typology: From word to paradigm. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Hye Sook. 2003. Korean language education using learner error corpus: United States, In Proceedings of 3rd Korean language education workshop.
Woo, Iin Hye. 1997. A study on the error of learners of Korean. The Society of Korean Language & Culture 151: 145–170.Google Scholar
Zhang, Jiemin. 2018. A study of displacement errors on Korean postposition ey and eyse . Master’s thesis, Yonsei University.
Zhang, Jinxi & Hyounwha Kang. 2018. An analysis of adverbial particle errors in the Chinese Korean learners’ corpus. The Language and Culture 14.3: 177–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar