The Most Frequent Lexical Units in Mother–Infant Communication in Slovak Language

Keywords: frequency lexicon, mother–infant communication, Slovak language, motherese

Abstract

The basis for the research was transcripts of 24 hours of monthly video recordings of three mothers speaking to their infants (for a period of eight months in each mother–infant dyad). In the frequency lexicon compiled from the mothers’ speech, the 20 most frequently used words were “be,” “right,” “well,” “self,” “yes,” “go,” “you,” ‘this,” “and,” “what,” “give,” “still,” “here,” “well,” “have,” “already,” “on,” “there,” “want,” and “where,” which underline the situational nature of mothers’ topics (“this,” “here,” “still,” “already,” “what,” and “where”) and their positive attitude towards the child (“right,” “yes,” “you,” and “well”). Moreover, the most often used nouns were the proper names of the infants in the diminutive form and an appellative “mom”; the most frequent adjectives were “little,” “good,” “big,” “pretty,” “beautiful,” and “clever,” while the most frequent adverbs were “nicely,” “beautifully,” and “well done.” Many of these words show a supportive and encouraging manner of infant-directed speech from mothers in infants’ preverbal stage of development.

References

Brestovičová, A. (2018). Lexika v reči orientovanej na dieťa v predverbálnom období vývinu dieťaťa (s frekvenčným slovníkom) [Lexis in child-directed speech in the early stage of a child’s development (with frequency lexicon]. Prešov: Prešovská univerzita. http://www.pulib.sk/web/kniznica/elpub/dokument/Brestovicova1

Ferguson, C. (1977). Baby talk as a simplified register. In C. Snow & C. Ferguson (Eds.), Talking to children: Language input and acquisition (pp. 237–253). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kaye, K. (1980). Why we don’t talk “baby talk” to babies. Journal of Child Language, 7, 489–507.Kesselová, J. (2003). Morfológia v komunikácii detí [Morphology in the communication of children]. Prešov: Vydavateľstvo Anna Nagyová.

Mistrík, J. (1969). Frekvencia slov v slovenčine [Frequency of words in Slovak]. Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo SAV.

Ološtiak, M. (2011). Aspekty teórie lexikálnej motivácie [Aspects of the theory of lexical motivation]. Prešov: Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove.

Sandhofer, C. M., Smith, L. B., & Luo, J. (2000). Counting nouns and verbs in the input: Differential frequencies, different kinds of learning?. Journal of Child Language, 27, 561–585.

Slančová, D. (1999). Reč autority a lásky. Reč učiteľky materskej školy orientovaná na dieťa – opis registra [Speech of authority and love – The child-directed speech of kindergarten teacher: A register description].. Prešov: Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej univerzity.

Slančová, D., & Zajacová, S. (2007). Komunikačný register ako prostriedok verbálnej socializácie dieťaťa [Communication register as a means of verbal socialization of the child]. In O. Orgoňová (Ed.), Jazyk a komunikácia v súvislostiach (pp. 153–163). Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského.

Šimková, M. (2011). Frekvencia slov a tvarov v súčasnej slovenčine [Frequency of words and forms in contemporary Slovak]. Slovenská reč, 76(5), 322–333.

Vaňková, I., Nebeská, I., Saicová-Římalová, L., & Šlédrová, J. (2005). Co na srdci, to na jazyku. Kapitoly z kognitivní lingvistiky [What’s in the heart is on the tongue: Chapters from cognitive linguistics]. Prague: Karolinum.

Wodak, R., & Schultz, M. (1986). The language of love and guilt: Mother–daughter relationships from a cross-cultural perspective. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Zajacová, S. (2012). Komunikačné registre v rolových hrách detí. Výsledky sociolingvistického experiment [Communication registers in children’s role games: Results of a sociolinguistic experiment]. Prešov: Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove.

Published
2020-12-31
How to Cite
Brestovičová , A. (2020). The Most Frequent Lexical Units in Mother–Infant Communication in Slovak Language. Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education, 9((2) 18), 143-156. https://doi.org/10.35765/mjse.2020.0918.07