Final answer:
Adjectives are acquired later than nouns or verbs due to the advancing cognitive development of children, which allows for a deeper understanding and description of characteristics and qualities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks why adjectives are acquired later than nouns or verbs by children during the language acquisition process. The acquisition of language structures generally follows a predictable sequence across children and cultures. While nouns and verbs are typically among the first words children learn because they represent concrete objects and actions, adjectives, which describe properties and qualities, require a deeper understanding of these objects and actions. They therefore tend to be learned later as the child's cognitive abilities develop. Moreover, according to language researchers, children have a biological predisposition for language acquisition, which unfolds naturally in response to environmental stimuli and internal maturation processes. Therefore, the most appropriate answer to the question would be option B) Cognitive development. This option acknowledges that the acquisition of more complex parts of speech, such as adjectives, aligns with the child's advancing cognitive abilities to conceptualize and describe the characteristics and qualities of the nouns and verbs they have already learned.