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When We Start Talking... Linguistic Analysis of Early Production of a Czech Speaking Child The research presents a linguistically oriented analysis of the so called oneword period, i.e. the period from approximately 12 to 18 months of age, in a child acquiring Czech language. It presents a meaning-based approach that combines the interest in the expressed (broadly defined) meanings with attention to both the interactive and dialogical character of early child speech and the specific features of early child production. The analysis itself focuses on the complex repertoire of a child'means of communication, early signals of grammar, and selected topics connected with the wider textual context of the child's production. The study focuses on a period of development and topics that have not yet been studied in detail in Czech linguistics and uses theoretical apparatus that has not been applied to the Czech language in this form. The analysis is based on data collected by the author as part of longitudinal research into the acquisition of Czech. It uses video recordings of natural everyday communication between the child and his carer (mainly his mother), combined with a parental diary. The methodology of the video data collection is analogous to that used by authors analysing the acquisition of Slovak (cf. Slančová, 2008a), which makes future comparison of selected results possible. The study shows that the selected combination of data collection methods is useful for qualitative analysis of the one-word period from a more general point of view, e.g. when we analyse such topics as (broadly defined) meanings and their means of expression in the communicative context. The analysis focuses on a case study – analysis of the production of one child, a healthy hearing monolingual boy. Using a case study enabled us to make the analysis complex and detailed, but leaves us open to questions as to the degree to which we can see the results as generally valid. Further analysis, studying more children and combining other methods, is therefore no doubt desirable. The focus on meaning, the specificity of early child speech, and interaction led to several theoretical conclusions, especially to a different delimitation of such terms as a word, a morpheme, parts of speech, grammaticalcategories, syntax, and negation. Each term was adjusted according to the nature of the data analysed, especially to the fact that during most of the period of research the child mainly uses one-word utterances, combines words with non-verbal means of communication, and does not change forms of words to express different grammatical categories. The selected approach also led to particular views on topics discussed in theoretical literature, such as repetition, reduplication, and so called over-extension. The book is divided into five parts: Chapter I introduces basic terminology (1.1), summarises the research into the acquisition of language in Czech-speaking children (1.2) and the so-called one-word period (1.6), and discusses the basic concepts and topics characterising the chosen approach to the analysis – the interaction and dialogue between the child and his carer (1.3), meaning and its acquisition (1.4), the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal research based on natural data etc. (1.5). Chapter II studies the repertoire of the child's means of communication. Unlike some other approaches, it covers both verbal and nonverbal means of communication. It attempts to show the repertoire as fully as possible and to observe how it changes throughout the research period. It is divided into three parts: when the child is 12, 15, and 18 months old. Chapter III is dedicated to early grammar, i.e. early morphology, syntax, and the expression of negation. The section on morphology (3.1) focuses on the question of words, morphemes, word classes and word forms in early child production. The first signals of “real”