This paper attempts to explore aspects of acquisition of functional markers on the nominal part and those on the verbal part of an utterance in Korean. Nominal ones are such as TOP(ic) marker -nun vs. Subj(ect)/NOM(inative) marker -ka and verbal ones are tense/aspect/modality and speech act markers. These functional elements as opposed to lexical elements such as nouns and verbs/adjectives are essential ones that make human language mature and unique. Therefore, utterances impoverished by some aphasia seem to largely lack these elements. Some investigations touch on the topic of Subj (and Top) marker acquisition such as Insook Lee (1999), Ho Han (1997), Gyeonghee N. Chung (1994), P. Clancy (1996, 1994), Youngjoo Kim (1998), Sook Whan Cho (1997), and Meesook Kim and C. Phillips (1998). We will try to show how pragmatic factors governing Top-Foc(us) information structure affects the semantic and syntactic structures of child utterances. It will also discuss Topic and subject/object involved in relative clause formation in Korean-speaking children, drawing data and some analyses from Sookeun Cho (1999). We will also try to see possible relations between the subject and the functional categories believed to be associated with it by most generative linguists. This paper will also try to see how functional elements on the verbal part are acquired; in what order and on what principles, trying to see possible relations between these and nominal counterparts.
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