Although the English language consists of only little verbal morphology nowadays, the development of morphological first language acquisition of growing children is critically discussed. Specialists argue whether one can say that there is a clear development which appears during the same stages of different children.
This paper will shed light on morphological aspects, especially on verbal and nominal morphological developments. The examined approaches are of English-speaking children. However, the primarily involved morphological phenomenon is contemporary over- and undermarking, as well as over regularizations. To begin with, general errors in morphological language acquisition will be displayed, followed by a concrete example of the child Nina from the CHILDES Database of the Suppes corpus. In order of being more comparative, some examples of the Brown study will be given.
In the second part, the results of the children acquiring English in my own observation study will be discussed and compared to the results given. All these examples and comparisons of the first language acquisition of English-speaking children will lead to questioning, if different children acquire language during the same period of time and if they pass through equal stages on their way to an "own" and independent adult language.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Language Acquisition Errors
- 2.1. General Errors
- 2.2. CHILDES Database: Nina
- 2.3. Brown Study
- 3. Study: Comparison of Childrens Language Acquisition in America
- 3.1. Observation of Michael and Erin
- 3.2. Differences and Correlations
- 4. Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This paper explores the development of morphological first language acquisition in English-speaking children, specifically focusing on verbal and nominal morphology. It examines over- and under-marking, as well as over-regularizations in children's language production. The paper analyzes general errors in morphological language acquisition, drawing on examples from the CHILDES database and the Brown study. It then presents the results of an observational study of children acquiring English and compares them to existing findings. The paper ultimately seeks to determine if different children acquire language at the same pace and if they progress through similar stages in their linguistic development.
- Morphological development in first language acquisition
- Over- and under-marking in English language acquisition
- Over-regularizations in children's language production
- Comparative analysis of different studies on first language acquisition
- The role of individual differences in language acquisition
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introductory chapter provides an overview of the research topic, emphasizing the importance of understanding the morphological development of first language acquisition. The second chapter delves into common errors made by children during language acquisition, particularly focusing on over-regularizations and the role of the "competition system." The chapter also explores the late acquisition of "shwa-insert" affixes and the impact of over-marking. Chapter three presents an in-depth analysis of the CHILDES database, specifically focusing on the linguistic production of the child Nina. The chapter examines Nina's errors and highlights the different stages she undergoes in her language acquisition process.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
First language acquisition, Morphology, Over-regularizations, CHILDES database, Brown study, Over- and under-marking, English language development, Individual differences, Linguistic development, Morphological errors.
- Quote paper
- Anonym (Author), 2014, First Language Acquisition from a Verbal and Nominal Morphological Perspective, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/538805
