ATTACHMENT B - Order of Emergence of 14 Grammatical Morphemes
Grammatical Morpheme
Example
*Age of Mastery
(in months)
1. Present Progressive Verb
Ending (-ing)
2. Preposition in
Mommy pushing
Popping bubble
Put in box
Go in car
3. Preposition on
Put on table
Sit on chair
4. Regular Plurals (-s)
Cookies
Books
5. Past Irregular Verbs
He went outside
(came, fell, broke, went)
Johnny broke it
6. Possessive Noun (‘s)
Jimmy’s car
Mommy’s coat
7. Uncontractible copula (am, He was bad
is, are, were, was)
They are good
8. Articles (a, the
Throw the ball
Give me a big hug
9. Past Regular (-ed)
He jumped
She pushed me
10. Third Person Singular
He cooks
Regular
Johnny goes
11. Third Person Singular
He has books
Irregular
She does work
12. Uncontractible Auxiliary
The boys are eating
be verbs preceding
The baby is crying
another verb)
13. Contractible Copula
I’m good
She’s nice
14. Contractible Auxiliary
I’m eating
They’re jumping
* Used correctly 90% of the time
19-28
27-30
27-30
24-30
25-46
26-40
26-39
28-46
26-46
26-46
28-50
29-48
29-49
30-50
Source : A first language: The early stages by R. Brown, 1975, Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press. Adapted from language development and
communication disorders in children (2nd ed.) by R. Owens, 1988