Predicate use patterns in elderly Korean speech: Effects of aging and education

This study examines syntactic patterns in spontaneous speech among elderly Korean speakers, focusing on how aging and education influence predicate use. Drawing on a large-scale corpus of 1,439 participants, aged 60 and older, and comprised of approximately 250,000 richly annotated Intent-Based Units (IBUs), this study analyzes the number of ecels used per IBU and per clause and the ratio of predicates to total pronounced ecels, which refer to orthographic spacing units that include both content and grammatical morphemes. Results show a decline in ecels with age, suggesting age-related changes in utterance planning linked to cognitive decline, while higher education is associated with increased ecels, indicating a buffering effect. Unexpectedly, the predicate ratio increases with age and lower education, which may reflect the use of simpler argument structures or the increased use of ellipsis.