Korean Learners' Grammatical Knowledge of The Meaning Differences Among "-ten," "-essten," and "-(u)n" and Their Combinations with Lexical Aspects

This study elucidates Korean language learners’ knowledge regarding the meanings of the relative clause endings “-ten”, “-essten,” and “-(u)n” and their combinations with predicates of different lexical aspects. The items were designed to test the substitution possibilities between “-ten” and “-(u)n” and between “-ten” and “-essten.” Each item included a predicate selected based on its lexical aspect features. Three types of Grammaticality Judgment Tests (GJTs) and a Self-Paced Reading Test (SPRT) were performed with intermediate learners, advanced learners, and native Korean speakers. Despite their proficiency, even advanced learners encountered difficulty distinguishing “-ten,” “-essten,” and “-(u)n” correctly, particularly in terms of their semantic contrasts and distributional constraints. However, they still outperformed intermediate learners, even though their acquisition of implicit and explicit knowledge remained uneven. Learners had greater difficulty substituting “-ten” and “-(u)n” than substituting “-ten” and “-essten,” particularly in contexts involving predicates with [–state] and [–punctual] features. The study suggests educational implications regarding these endings based on the meaning differences between “-ten” and “-essten” and between “-ten” and “-(u)n,” particularly in relation to their combinations with lexical aspects.