Regional differences in low SES African-American children's speech in the school setting

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne H. Charity
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
School Setting ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
Vernacular English ◽  
American Children

AbstractComprehensive investigations of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) have demonstrated that most features of AAVE reported in the sociolinguistic literature are consistently seen in nearly every African-American speech community in which vernacular speech has been documented. This article highlights quantitative regional differences in the speech produced by African-American children from three U.S. cities in an academic setting. In this analysis, 157 5- to 8-year-old African-American children in New Orleans, LA, Washington, DC, and Cleveland, OH imitated the sentences of a story presented in Standard American English (SAE) by teachers. The 15 sentences included many items that were possible mismatches between the child's vernacular and SAE. Afterwards, the children retold the story in their own words. Children's use of SAE and AAVE features in both tasks was analyzed. Higher rates of AAVE feature use occurred in New Orleans than in Cleveland or Washington, DC.

Conclusion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne Pitre Soileau
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Verbal Interactions ◽  
Cultural Expectations ◽  
American Children ◽  
Ephemeral Art ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Short Time

This chapter focuses on children’s folklore as ephemeral art. Children’s schoolyard lore teaches African American children and their friends, rhyme, rhythm, a form of public speaking, formalized game rules, cultural expectations, kinesic aptitude, and self-assurance. Schoolyard folkloric play lasts a short time, from around four to twelve years of age, but its influence can be profound. By age twelve schoolyard verbal play gets pushed off into some quiet corner of the mind, but the effects linger, as children move on to adolescent and mature pursuits equipped with facility in language, poise, a knowledge of game rules, and an awareness of cultural expectations. This book began with integration in 1967 in New Orleans, a process stressful for all, but particularly for African American children. It ends revealing that African American children managed to cling to their own mode of speech and their own play for over forty years. Play and verbal interactions still have the function of enabling children to be schoolyard artists.

scholarly journals Phonological Features of Child African American English

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly K. Craig ◽  
Connie A. Thompson ◽  
Julie A. Washington ◽  
Stephanie L. Potter
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
African American English ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
Phonological Features ◽  
American Children ◽  
5Th Grade

The production of phonological features of African American English (AAE) was examined for 64 typically developing African American children in the 2nd through the 5th grade. Students read aloud passages written in Standard American English. Sixty of the students read the passages using AAE, and 8 different phonological features were represented in their readings. Phonological features were more frequent than morphosyntactic features. The findings as a whole support use of the taxonomy developed for this investigation in characterizing the phonological features of child AAE.

Final Consonant Deletion in African American Children Speaking Black English

1993 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Moran
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Black English ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Speech Evaluation ◽  
American Children

The purpose of this study was to determine whether African American children who delete final consonants mark the presence of those consonants in a manner that might be overlooked in a typical speech evaluation. Using elicited sentences from 10 African American children from 4 to 9 years of age, two studies were conducted. First, vowel length was determined for minimal pairs in which final consonants were deleted. Second, listeners who identified final consonant deletions in the speech of the children were provided training in narrow transcription and reviewed the elicited sentences a second time. Results indicated that the children produced longer vowels preceding "deleted" voiced final consonants, and listeners perceived fewer deletions following training in narrow transcription. The results suggest that these children had knowledge of the final consonants perceived to be deleted. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.

scholarly journals “Subtle, vicious effects”: Lillian Steele Proctor's Pioneering Investigation of Gifted African American Children in Washington, DC

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-371
Author(s):  
Sevan G. Terzian
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Gifted Children ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Master's Thesis ◽  
American Children ◽  
Intellectual Potential

AbstractThis essay examines the first detailed study of gifted African American youth: Lillian Steele Proctor's master's thesis from the late 1920s on Black children in Washington, DC. Unlike formative research on gifted children by educational psychologists, Proctor's investigation emphasized children's experiences at school, home, and community in determining their abilities, opportunities, and accomplishments. Proctor's work also anticipated African American intellectuals’ critiques of racist claims about intelligence and giftedness that would flourish in the 1930s. In focusing on the nation's capital, her investigation drew from a municipality with a high proportion of African American residents that was segregated by law. Proctor pointed directly to systemic racism as both contributing to the relative invisibility of gifted African American youth and in thwarting opportunities to realize their intellectual potential. In an environment of racial subordination and segregation, these gifted children found themselves excluded from cultural resources and educational opportunities.

scholarly journals Novel genetic risk factors for asthma in African American children: Precision Medicine and the SAGE II Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 391-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marquitta J. White ◽  
O. Risse-Adams ◽  
P. Goddard ◽  
M. G. Contreras ◽  
J. Adams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
African American ◽  
Precision Medicine ◽  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Genetic Risk Factors ◽  
African American Children ◽  
American Children
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