ABSTRACT
Young children often produce forms that deviate from adult usage but nevertheless have a recognizable basis in the adult system. A child’s referring to the act of sweeping as brooming can probably be traced to the appearance of verb forms such as “hammering” and “sawing” in the ambient language. A child’s referring to the act of dropping as falling (e.g., “I’m falling the ball”) might derive from having heard verbs with both a causative (e.g., “The boy is bouncing the ball”) and inchoative (e.g., “The ball is bouncing”) use.
