Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1997

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Speech Pathology

Major Professor

Lori A. Swanson

Committee Members

Pearl Gordon, Harold Peterson

Abstract

African-American English (AAE) and Appalachian English (APPE) are nonstandard dialects of the English language within the United States. Speakers of these dialects follow grammatic, phonologic, semantic, and pragmatic rule systems which are distinctive from but not deficient to Standard American English (SAE). Although the development of these rule systems among speakers of SAE has been well documented, research among speakers of nonstandard dialects is sparse. The research literature indicates that information regarding nonstandard dialectal development is necessary for the appropriate assessment of such speakers. In particular, information regarding the developmental sequence for communicative intents and formality is needed to aid in the assessment of pragmatic skill among children who speak AAE and APPE. The purpose of this study was to determine the linguistic performance of normally developing school-aged speakers who use components of AAE and age-matched speakers who use characteristics of APPE. Fifteen speakers of AAE and 15 speakers of APPE were administered the Let’s Talk Inventory for Children (Bray & Wiig, 1987) at each of the following age levels: 5 years, 6 years, and 7 years. The subjects’ use of communicative functions or intents were examined as well as the subjects’ use of formality. Both the speakers of AAE and APPE differed significantly from the normative sample in regard to Total Intent Scores. The subjects’ performances upon the subtests representing the various communicative intents did not differ significantly from those of the normative sample, although the subjects did demonstrate a developmental progression in scores. The speakers of AAE differed significantly from the normative sample in their Formality Scores, although the speakers of APPE did not. The performances of the subjects upon Total Intent Scores provided evidence of differences in development for communicative intents, likely influenced by both dialectal and cultural factors for the subjects. Examination of the various subtests revealed possible explanations for these differences in development. Finally, the discrepancy in performance between the AAE and APPE subjects in regard to formality provided clues to cultural as well as code-switching factors which may have affected subject performances.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS