Slovenian is spoken in Slovenia and countries with Slovenian minorities, such as Austria, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, and in communities of emigrantsin Canada, Italy, Germany, France, Argentina. There are approximately 50 dialects in 8 subgroups in Slovenian. Slovenian is characterized by 20 consonants: six plosives, two nasals, seven fricatives, one rhotic, one lateral, one glide and two affricates and their allophones, and eight vowels. Consonant clusters in every position of the word are more typical than diphthongs are. Words may have from one up to six syllables or more. Word stress is not predictable, and there are many stress patterns, which may differ across dialects. The writing system is alphabetic with transparent orthography. While there have been few studies of Slovenian children’s language acquisition researchers have focused on children with speech sound disorders. Speech assessments for Slovenian-speaking children include the Test of Articulation and oral movements evaluation, and interventions include direct speech production interventions, metaphonological interventions and nonspeech oral motor interventions.

Key words: 
Slovenian, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Ozbič, M., & Kogovšek, D. (2025). Slovenian speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

• Ozbič, M., & Kogovšek, D. (forthcoming). Slovenian: Multilingual children’s speech development. Charles Sturt University, Australia. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals