One vs. more than one: antecedents to plural marking in early language acquisition* EVE V. CLARK AND TATIANA V. NIKITINA

When children first mark distinctions in language, they may use semantically possible but nonconventional expressions. This can be seen in their initial attempts to express ‘more-than-one’ in English (conventionally conveyed by use of the plural inflection). We explore children’s earliest expressions for ‘more-than-one’ by (a) examining longitudinal records for references to one vs. several objects, (b) eliciting references to pictures depicting one vs. two, three, or four objects, and (c) eliciting answers to whatvs. how many-questions about two or more objects. Longitudinal observations show that (1) the plural ending (-s) emerges piecemeal; and (2) children use numeralþ bare-stem nouns (two blanket) before conventional -s. We then elicited singular and plural expressions using pictures from 25 twoand three-year-olds. Most children used plural -s for only a few items; a number relied on numeralþ bare-stem forms (two duck); a few used quantifiers like more, and a few iteration with pointing gestures (e.g., for three cats, catþ POINT for each in turn). Knowledge of plural marking was distinct from knowledge of counting: Two-year-olds answered what questions with conventional or non-conventional plurals for up to nine objects, but managed how many-questions only for two or three, did poorly with four or five, and typically failed to respond for six or more, consistent with findings on the conceptual development of number.