The Acquisition of Diminutives in Lithuanian

Abstract

The acquisition of Lithuanian noun diminutives is studied. The preliminary results are based on tape-recorded data of one child between 1;7 and 2;6. Quantitative as well as qualitative analyses of the acquisition of diminutives are presented and discussed. A very close parallel between the mother’s and the child’s use of diminutives is discovered. This study reveals that the acquisition of Lithuanian diminutives starts early and from the very beginning the child uses an important number of these forms and does so in a very qualitative way