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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. 81–116

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The acquisition of Estonian morphology and syntax

 | University of Tartu
 | Tallinn University
Published online: 13 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.33.03vih
Abstract
This chapter reviews research on morphosyntactic acquisition of Estonian as a first language, focussing on early development through the age of six. The field has made great advances over the last three decades in Estonia, with the development of child language corpora in the 2000s and the emergence of experimental studies and cross-linguistic comparisons over the last twenty years. Estonian provides numerous points of typological interest, including a rich morphological system with multiple, not always predictable, inflectional classes, differential object marking and non-canonical expression of argument structure. The morphology is acquired early, with particular challenges seen in stem-changing forms. Studies on the acquisition of directives, interrogatives, complex clauses and causatives are reviewed. Studies of the acquisition of differential object marking and voice, domains in which multiple factors affect usage, have diverse results, suggesting early sensitivity to some aspects of the system, and a protracted period of acquiring the subtleties involved. The cognitive effects of frequency in the input are shown to interact with linguistic and pragmatic complexity to affect the acquisition of morphology and syntax.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Morphology
    • 2.1Nominal inflection
      • 2.1.1The target system
      • 2.1.2Initial usage of morphological forms
      • 2.1.3Further acquisition
      • 2.1.4Summary: Acquisition of noun inflection
    • 2.2Verb inflection
      • 2.2.1Emergence: The use of unmarked verb stems
      • 2.2.2Further development
      • 2.2.3Acquisition of tense and polarity
      • 2.2.4Acquisition of voice and mood
    • 2.3Summary
  • 3.Clausal syntax
    • 3.1Clause types
      • 3.1.1Directives
      • 3.1.2Interrogatives
      • 3.1.3Complex sentences
    • 3.2Object marking
    • 3.3Voice
    • 3.4Causatives
    • 3.5Summary
  • 4.Summary and future directions
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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