Derivational Occasionalisms in the Speech of One Child Aged from Four to Five Years

Abstract

This article explores the dynamics of various techniques used by children to create occasionalisms, focusing on the derivational innovations of one child at the age from four to five years and before turning four years (as shown by the earlier research). The results of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the directions of derivation (direct, reverse, and substitutive) were thoroughly studied. All ways in which the child derived words were examined. The part-of-speech nature of both motivating and motivated (innovations) words was described qualitatively and quantitatively. The models that the child used as analogies to derive occasionalisms were considered and compared for both ages. The primary reasons behind the decline in relevance of certain derivational models with age were singled out: no urge to speak about certain elements of the real world, mastering the model in the previous period and losing interest in its formal side, communication transparency (ensuring that adults can understand the intended meaning without ambiguity), and the productivity of morphemes. The emergence of new derivational models (general and specific) in the child’s speech was discussed. The question of typical and individual features of derivation in children was raised

Keywords

• ontolinguistics
• speech ontogenesis
• derivation of occasionalisms by children
• children’s innovations
• occasionalisms
• individual language system