On the overgeneralization of progressive marking on stative verbs: bioprogram or input?

Abstract

Although several researchers have claimed that overgeneralization of progressive markers rarely, if ever, occurs, the validity of such claims has been questioned. In this study, the spontaneous speech of three children acquiring English, and of their mothers, was analysed for their use of verbs with respect to stativity and progressive marking. The results show that overgeneralization of progressive inflections to stative verbs does occur, and that the mother of a child who frequently produced stative progressives also used stative progressives substantially, while the other two mothers never used them in speech addressed to their children. The strong association observed between maternal speech and the pattern of children's use of verb morphology casts doubts on the claim that the lack of overgeneralization is innate (Bickerton 1981). A prototype account of the phenomenon is proposed as an alternative.