Abstract
In this study, we examined how children acquired productive control over the suffix -er in coining agent and instrument nouns in English. Forty-eight children, aged three to six, were asked to segment and produce novel agent and instrument nouns. In comprehension, all could identify the verb base in nouns like kicker and otherwise showed that they understood both verb and suffix. In production, however, the children fell into three groups: (1) the youngest children made only inconsistent use of -er and relied on simple compounds, especially for agents, and on familiar words, especially for instruments; (2) slightly older children began to make consistent use of -er, but only for one of its meanings, usually the agentive one; and (3) the oldest children produced -er consistently for both agents and instruments. We propose three principles to account for this sequence of acquisition.
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