Level-ordering does not constrain children's ungrammatical compounds

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Developmental linguistics
• Morphological acquisition

Background:

• Children's acquisition of English plurals is complex.
• The level-ordering model proposes constraints on word formation.
• Previous research suggests children avoid regular plurals in novel compounds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the level-ordering model's constraint on children's production of novel deverbal compounds.
• To investigate whether children avoid regular plurals in ungrammatical compounds.

Main Methods:

• Seventy-two English-speaking children (36 British, 36 Canadian) participated.
• Children were assessed on their production of novel deverbal compounds.
• Analysis focused on the use of regular vs. irregular plurals in grammatical and ungrammatical compounds.

Main Results:

• 50% of children producing ungrammatical compounds used regular plurals.
• No children producing grammatical compounds used regular plurals.
• The findings contradict the level-ordering model's predictions for ungrammatical compounds.

Conclusions:

• Level-ordering does not constrain children's production of ungrammatical compounds.
• The validity of level-ordering as a general constraint on child compounding is questioned.
• Children's morphological development may be more flexible than previously assumed.