Question

The following utterances were produced by a child aged 3 years.
(i) Put him in the bathtub.
(ii) We eated gummy bears.
(iii) Thank you for giving us these books.
(iv) I don’t know … I knowed her!
(v) He bited my finger. (After correction: He bitted my finger.)
(vi) I runned in the water.
(vii) I rided on an elephant.
Which of the following statement(s) can be deduced from the data?

• A. The child differentiates between lexical and non-lexical categories of English.
• B. The child has acquired the Spec-Head and Complement-Head orders of English.
• C. The child has acquired case marking in English.
• D. The child has not yet acquired the rule of past tense formation in English.

Hint:

Overgeneralisation errors show that children have internalised grammatical rules, even if they have not yet mastered exceptions.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A, B, C

Step 1: Lexical vs non-lexical categories.
The child uses function words correctly (e.g., {in, the, for, us, these}), showing awareness of lexical and non-lexical categories. This supports option (A).
Step 2: Word order acquisition.
Utterances such as “Put him in the bathtub” and “Thank you for giving us these books” show correct head–complement and spec–head orders of English syntax. Hence, option (B) is correct.
Step 3: Case marking.
Correct use of pronouns like {him}, {us}, and {my} indicates that the child has acquired case distinctions in English. This confirms option (C).
Step 4: Past tense formation.
Forms like {eated}, {runned}, and {rided} show overgeneralisation of the past tense rule rather than lack of acquisition. Hence, option (D) is not correct.
Step 5: Conclusion.
The correct answers are (A), (B), and (C).