scholarly journals Physical and phonological causes of coda /t/ glottalization in the mainstream American English of central Ohio

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Scott Seyfarth ◽  
Marc Garellek
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Mainstream American English

African American English–Speaking Students: A Longitudinal Examination of Style Shifting From Kindergarten Through Second Grade

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly K. Craig ◽  
Giselle E. Kolenic ◽  
Stephanie L. Hensel
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
American English ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
African American English ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Style Shifting ◽  
Mainstream American English ◽  
Metalinguistic Skills

Purpose The purpose of this longitudinal study was twofold: to examine shifting from African American English (AAE) to mainstream American English (MAE) across the early elementary grades, when students are first exposed to formal instruction in reading; and to examine how metalinguistic and cognitive variables influenced the students' dialectal adaptations from AAE to MAE in a literacy context with higher expectations for MAE. Method Participants were 102 typically developing AAE-speaking students enrolled in public schools in the northern Midwest. They were enrolled in the project at kindergarten and tested 3 times a year, for 3 years. Approximately half were male and half female, and two-thirds were from low socioeconomic status homes. Results A style shifting coefficient (SSC) was created to measure amounts of dialect change between contexts and over time by individuals. Some students shifted to MAE in literacy contexts, and shifting was not related to grade. Metalinguistic skills and SSC predicted reading, and metalinguistic skills predicted the SSC at 2nd grade. The findings indicated that cognitive executive functions may contribute to the SSC. Conclusions The results provide strong support for the dialect shifting–reading achievement hypothesis and indicated that metalinguistic and perhaps executive functioning are important influences on this linguistic adaptation.

scholarly journals Using the ToBI transcription to record the intonation of Slovene

Linguistica ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Volk
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
American English ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Tone Sequence ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Audio Recording ◽  
The Core ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Mainstream American English

The paper presents ToBI, a transcription method for prosodic annotation. ToBI is an acronym for Tones and Breaks Indices which first denoted an intonation system developed in the 1990s for annotating intonation and prosody in the database of spoken Mainstream American English. The MAE_ToBI transcription originally consists of six parts – the audio recording of the utterance, the fundamental frequency contour and four parallel tiers for the transcription of tone sequence, ortographic transcription, indication of break indices between words and for additional observations. The core of the transcription, i. e. of the phonological analyses of the intonation pattern, is represented by the tone tier where tonal variation is transcribed by using labels for high tone and low tone where a tone can appear as a pitch accent, phrase accent and boundary tone. Due to its simplicity and flexibility, the system soon began to be used for the prosodic annotation of other variants of English and many other languages, as well as in different non-linguistic fields, leading to the creation of many new ToBI systems adapted to individual languages and dialects. The author is the first to use this method for Slovene, more precisely, for the intonational transcription and analysis of the corpus of spontaneous speech of Slovene Istria, in order to investigate if the ToBi system is useful for the annotation of Slovene and its regional variants.  

Narratives About Autism: An Analysis of YouTube Videos by Individuals Who Self-Identify as Autistic

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 569-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Angulo-Jiménez ◽  
Laura DeThorne
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
White Male ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Medical Model Of Disability ◽  
Mainstream American English ◽  
Model Features

Purpose The goal of this study was to expand the field's understanding of autism through the analysis of 1st-person perspectives from autistic video webloggers (vloggers). Method This study analyzed the representation of autism in 39 YouTube videos authored by self-identified autistic individuals and published between 2007 and 2015. Consistent with the cross-disciplinary tradition of narrative inquiry, thematic analyses of the video transcripts were conducted. Findings Vloggers were predominantly, but not exclusively, White male adults who spoke mainstream American English and self-identified as experiencing Asperger's syndrome. Key findings included (a) the predominance of a narrative about autism that incorporated features of both the medical model of disability and the neurodiversity paradigm to varying degrees, (b) a trend toward more medical model features across most content areas, and (c) a relatively high prevalence of neurodiversity paradigm features related specifically to language use and the description of autistic traits. Conclusions Implications include the need for clinicians to (a) familiarize themselves with the varying views of autism held within the autistic community, (b) reflect on the language used to talk about autism and listen to how clients and/or their caregivers talk about it, and (c) consider the exploration of potential positive dimensions of autistic traits.

scholarly journals Vocabulary size and auditory word recognition in preschool children

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANZO LAW ◽  
TRISTAN MAHR ◽  
ALISSA SCHNEEBERG ◽  
JAN EDWARDS
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Education ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
American English ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
New Words ◽  
Gaze Patterns ◽  
Mainstream American English

ABSTRACTRecognizing familiar words quickly and accurately facilitates learning new words, as well as other aspects of language acquisition. This study used the visual world paradigm with semantic and phonological competitors to study lexical processing efficiency in 2- to 5-year-old children. Experiment 1 found this paradigm was sensitive to vocabulary-size differences. Experiment 2 included a more diverse group of children who were tested in their native dialect (either African American English or mainstream American English). No effect of stimulus dialect was observed. The results showed that vocabulary size was a better predictor of eye gaze patterns than was maternal education, but that maternal education level had a moderating effect; as maternal education level increased, vocabulary size was less predictive of lexical processing efficiency.

Cross-cultural pragmatics and different values

1990 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wierzbicka
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
American English ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
John Searle ◽  
The Past ◽  
Culture Independent ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
Mainstream American English ◽  
Paul Grice ◽  
Cultural Pragmatics

Abstract The author argues that the differences in the ways of speaking prevailing in different societies and different communities are profound and systematic, and reflect the different cultural values. In the past, the extent of the differences between different language communities in their ways of speaking was often underestimated. In particular, the search for universals in language use inspired by language philosophers such as Paul Grice (1975, 1981) and John Searle (1969, 1979) often led to the identification of the mainstream American English with the “normal human ways of speaking”. The last decade has witnessed a growing reaction against this kind of misguided universalism,resulting in the birth of a new discipline: cross-cultural pragmatics. The progress of this new discipline, however, has been hampered by the lack of a suitable metalanguage. Researchers in this field tend to rely heavily on vague and undefined terms such as “directness”, “indirectness”, “harmony”, “solidarity”, which are used differently by different authors, or by the same authors but on different occasions. This leads to confusion, and to a lack of consensus and clarity even on the most basic points. The author argues that to compare cultures in a truly illuminating way we need a culture-independent perspective, and that one can reach such a perspective by relying on a natural semantic metalanguage, based on universal semantic primitives. These claims are illustrated in the paper with numerous examples.

Answering hard questions: Wh-movement across dialects and disorder

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
JILL DE VILLIERS ◽  
THOMAS ROEPER ◽  
LINDA BLAND-STEWART ◽  
BARBARA PEARSON
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
American English ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Mainstream American English ◽  
Long Distance Movement

ABSTRACTA large-scale study of complex wh-questions with 1,000 subjects aged 4–9 years is reported. The subjects' dialects were Mainstream American English or African American English, and approximately one-third were language impaired. The study examined when children permit long distance wh-movement, and when they respect a variety of syntactic barriers to movement. Thirteen different structures were compared, and the results suggest that typically developing children and disordered children at all the ages studied are capable of long-distance movement and obedience to abstract barriers. In no case was dialect a significant factor in the children's linguistic performance on these tasks.

The information in third-person /s/: acquisition across dialects of American English

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
JILL G. DE VILLIERS ◽  
VALERIE E. JOHNSON
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
African American English ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Mainstream American English ◽  
Age Range

The production of third-person /s/ on English verbs seems to be ahead of comprehension. Mainstream American English (MAE) is contrasted with African American English (AAE), in which /s/ is rarely supplied. Two studies explored what information children get solely from /s/ on the end of a verb. Sixty-five MAE- and 65 AAE-speaking four- to seven-year-olds participated in one of two experimental picture-choice comprehension studies. Neither group of four-year-olds could use the /s/ to determine if the event was generic rather than past tense on a verb (e.g. cuts/cut), or whether it was a verb or a noun compound as in The penguin dresses/The penguin dress. MAE-speakers do not use the information in third-person /s/ alone until age five, and not reliably until age six years. In keeping with AAE production, AAE-speaking children do not use the information in /s/ at all in this age range.

Perceptions of African American English by Students in Speech-Language Pathology Programs

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Alison Eisel Hendricks ◽  
Makayla Watson-Wales ◽  
Paul E. Reed
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
American English ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Data ◽  
African American English ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Language Pathology ◽  
Mainstream American English

Purpose Despite the increased awareness that all dialects are valid linguistic forms, perceptions of African American English (AAE) use are often negative in the general population. Students training for careers as speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are required to have coursework relating to cultural and linguistic diversity. However, little is known about the perceptions of AAE among students in SLP programs. Method Seventy-three students from 46 randomly selected university programs in the United States completed an online survey including explicit statements regarding the validity of AAE and a matched-guide task assessing participants' implicit perceptions of AAE. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four audio pairings that differed in terms of the dialect spoken and the formality of the conversational context. Participants rated the speaker on 11 attributes (e.g., literate/illiterate, rich/poor) using the Revised Speech Dialect Attitudinal Scale. Results Participants indicated positive opinions of statements on the validity of AAE. However, across three categories of personal attributes—sociointellectual, aesthetic, and dynamism—participants who heard the Mainstream American English recordings rated the speaker differently than recordings including AAE. Conclusions Students in SLP programs express positive opinions regarding AAE, and yet, they rate speakers who speak AAE lower in personal attributes. The results highlight the importance of expanding training for future SLPs to include not only explicit statements about the value of AAE but also activities addressing implicit perceptions of dialect use. We provide a brief discussion of how the current data can be implemented for such an activity. Lesson plans and materials are provided as supplemental materials. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.15241638

scholarly journals A Prekindergarten Curriculum Supplement for Enhancing Mainstream American English Knowledge in Nonmainstream American English Speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan R. Edwards ◽  
Peggy Rosin
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
American English ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Mainstream American English ◽  
American English Speakers

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a curriculum supplement designed to enhance awareness of Mainstream American English (MAE) in African American English- (AAE-) speaking prekindergarten children. Method Children in 2 Head Start classrooms participated in the study. The experimental classroom received the Talking and Learning for Kindergarten program (Edwards, Rosin, Gross, & Chen, 2013), which used contrastive analysis to highlight morphological, phonological, and pragmatic differences between MAE and AAE. The control classroom received the Kindness Curriculum (Flook, Goldberg, Pinger, & Davidson, 2014), which was designed to promote mindfulness and emotional self-regulation. The amount of instruction was the same across the 2 programs. Both classrooms participated in pre- and posttest assessments. Results Children in the experimental classroom, but not the control classroom, showed significant improvement in 3 norm-referenced measures of phonological awareness and in an experimental measure that evaluated comprehension of words that are ambiguous in AAE, but unambiguous in MAE, because of morphological and phonological differences between the 2 dialects. Conclusion Although more research needs to be done on the efficacy of the Talking and Learning for Kindergarten program, these results suggest that it is possible to enhance AAE-speaking children's awareness of MAE prior to kindergarten entry.

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