Eksperimentaalse metoodika kasutamisest eesti keele omandamise alastes uuringutes [Using experiments for the study on Estonian language acquisition]

Abstract

Psycholinguistic experiments are not widely used in the research of the acquisition of Estonian. The overview of main types of psycholinguistic experiments used in the research of first language acquisition is presented in the first part of the article, comments relying on personal experience of the author are added to all types of experiments. The second part of the article consists of the description, analysis and results of two psycholinguistic experiments designed for the research of the acquisition of Estonian aspect. Problems concerning the design and the running of the experiment, are indicated, also some important details the researcher and the designer of the experiment must take into the consideration are pointed out. The amount of correct answers of children in the same condition in two different tests can vary from 8 to 70%. Main results of two different experiments of the acquisition of aspect indicate that the design and the structure of the experiment are extremely important.

Keywords

acquisition of Estonian, child language, designing of a psycholinguistic experiment, the structure of an experiment