Agreement without understanding? The case of third person singular /s/

2005/10/01 by Valerie E. Johnson, Jill G. de Villiers, Harry N. Seymour · 2 citations
Psychology · #Language Development and Disorders #Reading and Literacy Development #Phonetics and Phonology Research

paper · doi:10.1177/0142723705053120

Abstract

This study examined the comprehension of third person singular /s/ as a number agreement marker in children speaking Mainstream American English (MAE). Sixty-two MAE-speaking children aged 3-6 years were presented with a comprehension task where they had to focus on the verb as a clue to number agreement. Overall, results showed that only the 5- and 6-year olds were sensitive to third person singular /s/ as an index of subject number in comprehension, despite their earlier command in production. The implications for development of agreement are discussed.

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