The 'simple' and 'intensive' hypotheses for X-er and too X are re- examined with data from children's spontaneous speech. Although the data to some extent support these hypotheses, they provide evidence that children's uses of X-er and too X extend beyond simple and intensive uses and indicate that these forms do not MEAN 'X' or 'very X' for young children. The data are best explained by drawing on two theories that have been proposed in work on the acquisition of word meanings: the Haphazard Examples Hypothesis and the theory of acquisition with a prototype.
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