Acquisition of adverbs and pronominal adverbs in a Czech child

Abstract

This article addresses the acquisition of adverbs in a Czech monolingual boy from speech onset until age 6. This study is based on an analysis of authentic material: a corpus of transcriptions of audio recordings of the child in verbal interaction with adults, and diary records. The acquisition sequence and adverbial type frequency were analysed. The boy acquired adverbs of place first; although direction was acquired before location, location became more frequent. Adverbs relating to time were developed second, and location in time and repetition were the most frequent temporal aspects. Adverbs of degree followed; adverbs related to high degree were more frequently expressed than adverbs related to low degree. Adverbs of manner appeared last, in which adverbs related to a broader evaluative sense prevailed. Adverbs related to cause were manifested mostly by the interrogative proč / why. Interrelation between the acquisition of nominal and verbal categories was found: when the child acquired the category of nominal case and was able to use the construction of preposition + noun, the percentage of adverbs of place decreased. When he acquired the verbal aspect, the percentage of adverbs related to time decreased.