overregularization

All children go through this phase, called overregularization in which they try to mechanistically apply the rules they’ve learned to cases to which that rule does not apply.

The Volokh Conspiracy » “Otherwise Incorrect” 2009

All children go through this phase, called overregularization in which they try to mechanistically apply the rules they’ve learned to cases to which that rule does not apply.

The Volokh Conspiracy » “Otherwise Incorrect” 2009

Children often go through overregularization phases where, in a sense, they make the language more “logical” than the adult version they hear around them, and something like that is probably what’s happening here.

The Volokh Conspiracy » Hisself, My Son, and a Thought About Prescriptivism: 2009

WS language shows “massively delayed” early acquisition, especially of vocabulary (Bellugi et al. 2000: 11) and grammatical morphemes (Caprirci et al. 1996); overregularization of regular plural and past tense endings as well defective competence with regard to irregular nouns and verbs (Clahsen and Almazan 2001); “inordinate difficulty with morphosyntax” (Morris and Mervis 2000: 467; see also Volterra et al. 1996; Karmiloff-Smith et al. 1997;

Innateness and Language Cowie, Fiona 2008