A Study on ‘Ui’’ for Teaching Japanese KFL(Korean as Foreign Language) Learners

‘Ui(의)’ is a marker that connects two nouns, but it is not requisite for connecting nouns in Korean. While some ‘ui’ are obligatory, most of that are optional. Furthermore, there are some cases that ‘ui’ cannot be used. These features of ‘ui’ make trouble for Japanese KFL(Korean as Foreign Language) learners, whose mother language usually needs ‘no(の)’ for connecting nouns. This study has examined the semantic function of ‘ui’ and looked into how this function works on the realization of ‘ui’ for the purpose of providing teaching methods on the use of ‘ui’ for Japanese KFL learners. Firstly, requisite ‘ui’ is concerned with the connecting function for semantic relation. The function of ‘ui’ that connects semantic relations between two nouns effectively works in the situation in which it is difficult to grasp semantic relations between nouns and in such a situation the realization of ‘ui’ is obligatory. Secondly, impermissible ‘ui’ is concerned with the individuating function. The function of ‘ui’ that individuates the respective existence of two nouns is not necessary when two nouns mean a single individual as a whole and in this case ‘ui’ cannot be realized. With the analysis made above, this study has tried to provide simple teaching methods on the use of ‘ui’ for Japanese KFL learners.