Study conducted in the "SprachSpielLabor" at Paderborn University

When children say "Windwedel" instead of "Windrad" or "Grünzeugrausmacher" instead of "Strunkentferner", these are not just amusing neologisms of children's language, but important indications that children actively understand and creatively use language patterns instead of just imitating words. But what clues do these neologisms provide as to how children acquire language and its rules? This is being investigated in a research project of the Collaborative Research Centre 1646 "Linguistic Creativity in Communication" at Paderborn University and Bielefeld University. The research team is currently looking for multilingual children between the ages of four and five who speak at least one other language in addition to German. Four individual appointments are arranged in the "SprachSpielLabor" at Paderborn University. Each appointment lasts approx. 50 minutes and as a thank you there is an expense allowance of 15 euros per appointment (60 euros in total) as well as a small gift for the children. Interested families can contact the project employee Alexandra Filimonova for further information by e-mail or telephone: alexandra.filimonova@uni-bielefeld.de or +49 521 106-67214. Alternatively, contact can also be made via the "SprachSpielLabor": sprachspiellabor@uni-paderborn.de

During the study, the children are encouraged to name objects and visual materials. There is no "right" or "wrong". The researchers are interested in how children deal with linguistically challenging situations and how they utilise their existing linguistic resources. This is because children between the ages of four and six are in a particularly exciting phase of language acquisition. They already have basic communicative skills and are actively expanding their vocabulary as they explore their environment more and more intensively. In the process, however, they come across objects or find themselves in situations for which they do not yet know the right terms. At such moments, they become creative and invent new words by combining familiar word elements, paraphrasing meanings or emphasising their statements with gestures and facial expressions. The aim of the project is to find out which (creative) strategies monolingual and multilingual preschool children use when they are asked to name unfamiliar objects. The new word formations not only provide insights into language acquisition, but also into the potential and creativity of children and can contribute in the long term to the further development of linguistic diagnostics and support in the elementary sector.

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