An Investigation of The Word Creation and Word-formation Processes In Tehrani Persian-speaking Children Aged 2 to 6 Years Old

• Published in: ʻIlm-i zabān (Online) Vol. 9; no. 15; pp. 433 - 456
• Main Authors: Zahra Khanalizadeh, Fariba Ghatreh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Persian
• Published: Allameh Tabataba'i University Press 01.03.2022
• Subjects: children; coinage; compounding; derivation; word creation; word formation
• ISSN: 2423-7728; 2538-2551
• DOI: 10.22054/ls.2021.60221.1447

The present study examines the word-formation processes in 121 Persian-speaking children between 2-6 years of age from Tehran. The research data were collected through observation, interview with children and their parents, and questionnaire, and were then classified and analyzed based on the framework presented in Booij (2007). The results indicated that among the word-formation processes, derivation has the most frequent usage, and reduplication has the least one. Among the word-creation processes, shortening has been used more than blending. Moreover, among all the processes observed, coinage with 26% is the most frequent. According to the other findings of the research, it seems that the type of words made is directly related to the age of the child. Coinage has the most frequent usage among two-year-old children and with the increase of their age, processes like coinage and shortening are replaced with morphological processes, so that at the ages of 4 to 6 years old, the frequency of compounding and derivation increases in formation of the new words. One of the most important reasons for this can be the children’s cognition and awareness of morphological processes, which improves with the increase of their age.