Which statement about the fourth stage of first-language acquisition is accurate?

The fourth stage of first-language acquisition is often characterized by the use of functional morphemes, which are essential for conveying grammatical relationships and meanings in sentences. This stage typically includes the use of two-word combinations and more complex sentence structures as children begin to integrate these morphemes into their speech.

The emphasis on functional morphemes means that children start using grammatical elements like prepositions, conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs, which help specify relationships between different parts of their sentences. While lexical morphemes do play a role in language development by adding meaning (nouns, verbs, adjectives), the correct focus during this stage is on the ability to create more grammatically complete sentences through the incorporation of functional morphemes.

This stage marks a significant progression from the earlier stages, where children may have focused more on single words or simple constructions, highlighting their linguistic growth and understanding of how different parts of language work together to form complete thoughts.