Comprehension, Production, and Meaning

The study of morphology, and more specifically the §English plural, encompasses many aspects of §language, such as phonology and semantics. This book §examines these complexities in a variety of studies §with two-year-old-children and presents a unified §description of the acquisition of the English §plural. First, the slow, protracted course of §acquisition is documented and evidence is presented §that suggests children know much about when to use §the English plural before they use it. Children''s §comprehension of the English plural far surpasses §their production, a difference that is §linked to frequency effects from the environment. §Children''s plural productions are shown to §be tied to the meaning of the plural as children are §more likely to produce the plural of nouns when §there are more instances and when they are §identical. Spontaneous speech of parents of two-§year-old children demonstrates children are not §merely mimicking the input. The research presented §here attempts to connect the many §complexities of language into a cohesive description §of the progression and factors that influence §children s acquisition of the English plural.