This study investigates the emergence and later development of three tense-aspect markers in Japanese - -ta (past), -te i- (durative), and -ru (non-past) - in the data of three Japanese children. It was found that the emergence of tense-aspect morphology in Japanese does not necessarily follow the prediction of the Aspect Hypothesis (Shirai & Andersen 1995), but is mediated by typological facts of Japanese, and that there is individual variation in the acquisition of morphology. The results of the study suggest that predictions concerning early verb morphology should not be taken so strongly, and that various factors should be considered as determinants of the emergence of tense-aspect morphology.
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