This thesis presents an experiment designed to test children's knowledge of the Korean pluralizer -tul. Acquisition of this pluralizer was investigated in two ways: as an Intrinsic Plural Marker (IPM) attached to nominals and as an Extrinsic Plural Marker (EPM) attached to non-nominals. First of all, the results show that eight-year-olds associated the IPM -tul as plural. Seven- and eight-year-olds, however, were more confident with a singular interpretation than with a plural interpretation. Such behavior is due to the optionality of -tul. If children are exposed to inconsistent input, and the interpretation is ambiguous, the acquisition can be delayed. Second, the results show that the IPM -tul plays the same role in subject and in indirect object. Eight-year-olds treated the IPM -tul equally, regardless of the place that it is attached to. Third, the results with adults' responses suggest that the EPM -tul is associated to a plural subject interpretation. Seven- and eight-year-olds seemed that they did not know the interpretation of the EPM. Fourth, the results show that the EPM is harder for seven- and eight-year-olds to acquire than the IPM. The IPM is attached more locally than the EPM in terms of its semantic effect. Lastly, the results clearly show that there were age differences in acquisition of the pluralizer -tul. Although eight-year-olds were not adult-like, they performed a lot better than seven-year-olds did since they were more likely to be exposed to the plural interpretations.
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