Preschool Morphology Chart Brown’s Fourteen Morphemes Morpheme

General Information

Present Progressive –ing (no auxiliary verb)

This is the earliest form of verb inflection acquired in English and is mastered within Brown’s Stage II. Young children realize that this can be used with action verbs in English but not with verbs of state very early.

In On Regular Plural –s

Acquired in Brown’s Stage II. Acquired in Brown’s Stage II. Acquired orally within Brown’s Stage II. First appears in short phrases, then in short sentences, and finally in longer sentences. It seems to develop in four phases (u-shaped learning). Initially there’s no difference between the singular and plural. Next, the plural marker will be used in selective instances. In the third phase, the child will use the plural for many instances, some of which will be inappropriate. Finally, the regular and irregular plurals are differentiated. Involves phonological learning (/z/, /s/, & /əs/) as well.

Irregular Past

Possessive ‘s Uncontractible Copula (verb to be as main verb) Articles

Acquired in Brown’s Stage II, probably learned individually rather than as the result of rule learning. Early forms include: came, fell, broke, sat, and went. However, the child may still add an –ed ending for a period. Most errors seem to be based on attempts to generalize from existing irregular verbs. Use is mastered relatively late (Brown’s Stage III) and is originally marked with word order and stress. Initially, it will only be attached to single animate nouns. Not mastered until Brown’s Stage V. Appears initially in full form: is, am, and are versus the contractible forms: is, ‘m, and re. It will take child time to sort through all of the copula variations for person and number (am, is, are) and tense (was, were, will be, been). Articles the (specific; old information) and a (nonspecific; new information) appear in Brown’s Stage II. Their initial use is undifferentiated and it is sometimes difficult to ascertain which is being used from the child’s pronunciation. First acquired in a nominative (naming) function. Initially the indefinite a will predominate. As the child learns to use articles for reference, he or she will use the predominately even if they aren’t identifying a specific entity.

Example I swimming

Approximate Age of Mastery (in months) 19-28

Kitty eating Baby crying Juice in cup Foot on table. Using “puppy” or “two puppy” for more than one initially.

27-30 27-30 27-33

Over generalizing words, foots or gooses. Correctly saying puppies or geese. Came, fell, broke, & sat

25-46 26-40

Common error: sing/sang influencing bring/brang. Mommy’s Doggie’s

hit & hurt (3 to 3 ½) went (3 ½ to 4) saw (4 to 4 ½) gave & ate (4 ½ to 5) 31-34

He is a teacher. I am sick. They are early.

27-39

The red dress.

28-46

I need a new car.

By 36 months, 90% will use a and the correctly. By 4, child is capable of making more complicated inferences about the

Regular Past –ed

Few, if any, regular past inflected verbs exist at the one word level. Once a child learns the regular past tense rule, however, it is overgeneralized to the previously acquired irregular past tense verbs. Has several phonological variations (/d/. /t/, /əd/)

Regular Third Person –s

Irregular Third Person

Uncontractible Auxiliary (be)

Contractible Copula

Contractible Auxiliary

Appears in Brown’s Stage II, but are not mastered until Brown’s Stage V. There is a long period of inconsistent use. Omission with new verbs may be influenced by adult questions in which the inflection has been transferred to the auxiliary. In English, the only present-tense marker is an s on the third person singular verb. All other forms are uninflected. The marker is redundant in most instances, since the subject generally expresses person and number. Appears in Brown’s Stage II, but are not mastered until Brown’s Stage V. There is a long period of inconsistent use. Omission with new verbs may be influenced by adult questions in which the inflection has been transferred to the auxiliary. Only a few English verbs, such as do and have, are irregular. Mastered around age 4. Auxiliary to be develops more slowly than the copula. Unlike the copula, the auxiliary be is followed by a verb. It occurs most frequently in the past tense when contractions can completely change the meaning. Mastered around age 4 or after. Simply put, the copula is contractible if it can be contracted even if it does not appear in the contracted form. In general, the is and are forms develop before am. These early forms are also likely to be overgeneralized. It may be difficult to detect incorrect usage considering the shortness and lack of emphasis used in the contracted forms. It may take many forms to reflect person and number. Mastered around age 4 or after. Simply put, the auxiliary is contractible if it can be contracted even if it does not appear in the contracted form. In general, the is and are forms develop before am.

Incorrect: falled

listener’s needs and knows to use some and any with mass nouns. 26-48

Begged Walked Sighted Dog eats Kitty walks Milk spoils

26-46

Does Has

28-50

She is singing.

29-48

He was eating vs. He’s eating. He is fast/He’s fast. She is tall/She’s tall.

29-49

She is riding a bike/ She’s riding a bike

30-50