This study established the usage pattern of connective endings in older adults with dementia observed by collecting natural spoken Korean from five participants living in the capital area. First, older adults with dementia are not fluent enough to speak consistently in daily conversations for more than one minute. Second, they generally use approximately 30 connective endings to communicate regardless of the duration of their illness, level of education, or KMMS-E(Korean version Mini-Mental State Examination) score. Third, there are six types of morphological high-frequency connective endings used by older adults with dementia: -a(-아), -ge(-게), -go(-고), -aseo(-아서), -myeon(-면), and -neunde(- 는데). These connective endings account for more than 70% of all communications. Fourth, the same classification applies to high-frequency semantic connective endings used by older adults with dementia, which control eight semantic functions. Fifth, the six types of connective endings are centered on speaking of a single event or narrating the events of an antecedent clause and the following clause in order.

Abstract
1. 서론
2. 연구자료와 연구방법
3. 연결어미 사용 유형
4. 고빈도 연결어미의 기능
5. 결론
참고문헌

• 장경우(Lecturer, School of Liberal Arts, SoongSil University; 369 Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06978, South Korea) | Gyeongwoo Jang