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In:First Language Acquisition in Finno-Ugric Languages
Edited by Minna Kirjavainen, Ágnes Lukács and Virve-Anneli Vihman
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 33] 2025
► pp. 18–57

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The acquisition of Estonian phonology

 | University of CaliforniaBerkeley | University of York
 | University of Tartu
 | University of Tartu
Published online: 13 October 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.33.01vih
Abstract
As few studies of Estonian phonological development are so far available, this chapter presents new analyses of data (available on CHILDES) from two Estonian children followed longitudinally over the last half of their second year; both were producing over 100 words in 30–40 minutes of spontaneous play with their mothers by the last session included here. After providing a brief description of Estonian phonology, we ask what structures the children first attempt and produce and we relate those structures to input frequency in the two mothers’ speech. Focusing mainly on the disyllabic words which dominate the children’s output, we note that final consonant production, which emerges only gradually, constrains the acquisition of inflectional suffixes. We also find, for both children, that of the three prosodic structures basic to Estonian phonology it is neither the simplest ‘Q[uantity]1’ (short) nor the tonally striking ‘Q3’ (‘overlong’) that is most often produced but rather ‘Q2’ (long). This exaggerates a small Q2 frequency effect in the mothers’ data; it is in accord with the findings of studies of other languages with a length contrast, such as Finnish or Italian, where children are found to disproportionately target and produce medial geminates as compared with singletons in this developmental period. Finally, we note that both children assimilate many Q1 and Q3 words to their preferred Q2 template.
Article outline
  • 1.Estonian phonology
    • 1.1Quantity contrast
  • 2.Methods and analysis
    • 2.1Database
    • 2.2Establishing consonant inventories
    • 2.3Establishing variants
    • 2.4Child-directed speech (CDS)
  • 3.Overview of Linda and Andreas data
    • 3.1Target words
    • 3.2Child word forms (prosodic variants)
    • 3.3Child-directed speech
    • 3.4Consonant inventories: Word-initial and word-final
  • 4.Effects of phonology on morphological learning
  • 5.Prosodic structures
  • 6.Templatic patterns
    • 6.1Linda’s phonological template
    • 6.2Andreas’ phonological templates: Q2 and Consonant Harmony
  • 7.Discussion
    • 7.1Structures
    • 7.2Consonants
    • 7.3Consonantal length
    • 7.4Effects of phonology on morphological learning
    • 7.5Prosodic structure: Contrasts in quantity
  • ?ack?
  • Notes
  • References
References (48)
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