Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22210/suvlin.2022.093.04
Acquisition of noun formation based on data from one child from the Croatian Corpus of Child Language
Zrinka Kuna
orcid.org/0000-0002-1782-2778
; Poliklinika za rehabilitaciju slušanja i govora SUVAG Osijek
Abstract
Research on the acquisition of word formation has shown that the sequence and speed of this process
may vary in typologically diff erent languages (Clark 2001, 2014; Haman et al. 2009). In Croatian, the
research on the acquisition of word formation focused primarily on the acquisition of diminutives (Palmović
2007; Kuvač and Palmović 2001); recently, however, there has been a growing interest in this subject area.
Based on a case study, this paper aims to explore noun formation in early language development in
Croatian and fi nd out: a) when the fi rst derived and compound nouns occur in the data analyzed and to
what degree, b) which word formation patterns are found in child language, c) whether there is a diff erence
in frequency of the use of suffi xes between the data analyzed and general Croatian, d) to which semantic
categories the produced derivatives belong. Th e results of this research are based on the study of the speech
of Antonija, a girl, aged 1;3 to 2;8. Her speech was recorded and transcribed and is a part of the Croatian
Corpus of Child Language (Kovačević 2002). Produced derivatives were recorded in the IBM SPSS Statistics
22 program and a frequency analysis was carried out. Th e results of the analysis show that the girl produced
164 lemmas and 511 tokens. Th e fi rst noun derivative was produced at the age of 1;5. Th e girl used all word
formation patterns except prefi xation. Th e most productive pattern is suffi xation, with diminutives being
the most common semantic group. Th e girl produced 34 suffi xes of various meanings. The most productive
suffixes are –ica, –ić, –a, and –ek. Th e most common suffi xes in Antonija’s speech diff er from the most
common suffixes in Croatian (Filko 2020) since the child produced various semantic categories of nouns in
a different way from adult speakers.
Th is research can be used as a starting point for future assumptions and research on the acquisition of
word formation, in particular on the development of morphological awareness related to particular suffixes
in child language.
Keywords
language development; language acquisition; noun formation; derivational morphology,; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
280908
URI
Publication date:
25.7.2022.
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