Which grammatical morphemes tend to emerge later in early language?

Which grammatical morphemes tend to emerge later in early language?

• A. Plural -s and past tense -ed emerge later; Copula appears earlier.
• B. Articles a/an and the emerge earlier; -ing later.
• C. Copula and auxiliary verbs like is/are and has/have; present participle -ing appears earlier.
• D. Irregular verbs appear earliest; auxiliary late.

Answer: (C)

In early English development, morphemes that mark ongoing action tend to appear first, while forms that encode tense, agreement, or complex syntax come later. The present participle -ing is one of the earliest markers children learn, as in “mommy going” or “dog running.” It’s simple to attach to a verb and immediately useful for describing ongoing events, so it shows up early in many children's speech. Copula forms like is/are and auxiliary verbs like has/have require the child to coordinate tense and agreement with the subject, and to manage more complex sentence structures. Because these require more syntactic organization, they typically emerge after the early -ing marker. Present participle -ing appearing earlier while copula and auxiliary forms come later fits the common development pattern described in Brown’s morpheme order, where simpler, more productive morphemes appear first and more complex ones follow. The other options misstate this sequence by suggesting later emergence for -ing or earlier appearance for the more complex forms, which doesn’t align with the usual pattern observed in early language development.

In early English development, morphemes that mark ongoing action tend to appear first, while forms that encode tense, agreement, or complex syntax come later. The present participle -ing is one of the earliest markers children learn, as in “mommy going” or “dog running.” It’s simple to attach to a verb and immediately useful for describing ongoing events, so it shows up early in many children's speech.

Copula forms like is/are and auxiliary verbs like has/have require the child to coordinate tense and agreement with the subject, and to manage more complex sentence structures. Because these require more syntactic organization, they typically emerge after the early -ing marker. Present participle -ing appearing earlier while copula and auxiliary forms come later fits the common development pattern described in Brown’s morpheme order, where simpler, more productive morphemes appear first and more complex ones follow.

The other options misstate this sequence by suggesting later emergence for -ing or earlier appearance for the more complex forms, which doesn’t align with the usual pattern observed in early language development.