Acquisition of Some Grammatical Categories in Romani (Gypsy) Language by Preschool Rural Roma Children in Bulgaria

The goal. The paper presents research findings from a small study with Roma (Gypsy) children living in a small village in Southeast Bulgaria. Methods. Two groups of preschool Roma children (between 4-5 years old and 5-6 years old, 10 children in each group in total 20 children) were tested with a test, specially designed for testing Roma children’s knowledge of some grammatical categories in their mother tongue. All children were attending kindergarten, where they learn the official language of the country- Bulgarian, but there are no any lessons in their mother tongue Romani. The children are tested individually for measurement of their knowledge on Romani multiple wh-questions, long distance wh-questions, passive verbs, possessiveness, tense and aspect of the verb. Results. The results show that some grammatical categories such as multiple wh-questions, long distance wh-questions and possessiveness, are acquired between the age of 4-5 years old, but other categories are more difficult for children and they are acquired between the age of 5-6 years old: passive verbs, tense and aspect of the verb. Conclusions. These types of studies are important because they show that although Roma children may live in a small village, they have normal development of their mother tongue and they learn the grammatical categories in the same way as the Roma children resident in big towns and cities.