earticle

영어

This paper explored L2 acquisition pattern of English Wh-questions by Korean L1 learners(L1ers): how do Korean L1ers acquire wh-subject and wh-object respectively in simple clause and embedding clause and which syntactic properties are involved? Here are three hypotheses to raise the curiosities: First, Hypothesis 1 presents L2ers would master wh-subject more easily than wh-object, Next, as for Hypothesis 2 the embedding depth will be a vital factor in L2 learning. Lastly, Hypothesis 3 assumes that proportion on subject & object extraction is asymmetrical. Via the experiment of 150 L2ers Hypothesis 1, 2 and 3 seem persuadable: wh-subject's priority over wh-object, accessible complexity rating plus nearly balanced percentage on subject & object gap. Therefore, this paper verifies that both English L1ers and L2ers would hold a similar mastering status. (Jeonju University)