Longitudinal case study of child-directed speech in Slovak from the perspective of acquisition of personal pronouns

Objectives. Previous research has shown that the acquisition of personal pronouns benefits from input with higher amounts stable reference. This paper aims to provide more evidence how is structured. The language under study Slovak, a pro-drop language, allowing extend verb marking. Participants and setting. longitudinal follows speech directed three children in two families age 1;9 3;0. Hypotheses. It was hypothesised incidence first second person singular marking as expressions shifting reference grows child’s while proper names category decreases age. Statistical analysis. Occurrences well referring speaker addressee were found analysed. Simple regression analysis testing conducted on data. Results. results confirm hypothesis, showing an increase over time, at expense addressee. Study limitations. limited by size sample