The Influence of Three Phonological Rules of Black English on the Discrimination of Minimal Word Pairs

1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Baran ◽  
Harry N. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Word Pair ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Phonological Rules

Minimal word pairs that are presumed to be perceptually difficult to differentiate when spoken in black English were examined relative to (1) black children’s performance in differentiating the meanings of their own word pair productions and those of other blacks and whites and (2) white children’s performance in differentiating the meanings of word pairs produced by black children. Perceptual errors were significantly greater for whites listening to word pairs produced by blacks than for blacks listening to themselves, other blacks, or whites. No significant differences were found among blacks listening to themselves, other blacks, and whites. Perceptual errors followed predictable patterns that were influenced by three phonological rules of black English. Also, the data suggest that there are phonemic cues that are imperceptible to non-black-English speakers which allow black-English speakers to differentiate word pairs.

The Achievement Gap: Past, Present & Future

Daedalus ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Nisbett
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Intellectual Skills ◽  
Middle Class Blacks

The achievement gap between blacks and whites owes nothing to genetics. It is not solely due to discrimination or social-class differences between blacks and whites. It is due in good part to environmental differences between blacks and whites stemming from family, neighborhood, and school socialization factors that are present even for middle-class blacks. The gap is closing slowly, but it could be closed much more rapidly, with interventions both large and small. Preschool programs exist that can produce enormous differences in outcomes in school and in later life. Elementary schools where children spend much more time in contact with the school, and which include upper-middle-class experiences such as visits to museums and dramatic productions, have a major impact on poor black children's academic achievement. Simply convincing black children that their intellectual skills are under their control can have a marked impact.

scholarly journals Hypercorrection and grammar change

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol W. Pfaff
Keyword(s):  
First Grade ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black English ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Answering Questions ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Pfaff (1973, 1975) reports on 81 low- and middle-income first-grade Black children who produced multiple instances of linguistic variables by answering questions about a set of pictures and telling the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. No models were given of the linguistic variables under investigation, which included a number of third person singular present-tense verb forms: -s inflection of regular verbs, auxiliary and main verb be, auxiliary and main verb have, auxiliary do and possessive marking on nouns. Standard marking of all of these linguistic variables has been shown by previous studies of free conversation to be variably lacking in Black English (Labov, Cohen, Robins & Lewis 1968; Fasold 1972).

"What Go Round Come Round": King in Perspective

1981 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geneva Smitherman
Keyword(s):  
School District ◽  
Elementary School Children ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black English ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Black America ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Commercial World ◽  
Ann Arbor ◽  
Martin Luther King

The children are the future and hope of black America. Therefore, it is fitting and proper to begin with the words of those children who brought the federal lawsuit in the nationally prominent but widely misunderstood case of Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School Children v. Ann Arbor School District Board. Although this case has come to be known as the "Black English Case," it was as much a case about black children as about Black English. As Judge Charles W. Joiner himself said: "It is a straightforward effort to require the court to intervene on the children's behalf to require the defendant School District Board to take appropriate action to teach them to read in the standard English of the school, the commercial world, the arts, science and professions. This action is a cry for judicial help in opening the doors to the establishment. . . . It is an action to keep another generation from becoming functionally illiterate" (Note 1).

scholarly journals Articulation Test Performances of Low-Income, African-American Preschoolers With Communication Impairments

1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Washington ◽  
Holly K. Craig
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Language Testing ◽  
Black English ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Standard English ◽  
African American Children ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
American Children ◽  
Communication Impairments

Culturally valid speech and language testing measures for use with African-American children who are speakers of Black English (BE) are limited. An alternative to developing new tests for use with this population is to adapt currently available tests designed for use with standard English speakers. The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of 28 low-income, urban African-American preschoolers from Metropolitan Detroit who were speakers of BE on the Arizona Articulation Proficiency Scale, using a standard English and a BE scoring procedure. The findings indicated that this test does not require a BE scoring adjustment for northern children who are speakers of BE.

Age Differences in Racial Self-Identity of Young Black Girls

1975 ◽  
Vol 37 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1263-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Roberts ◽  
Kathleen Y. Mosley ◽  
Maureen W. Chamberlain
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Hair Style

The experimenters modified the Clark and Clark doll procedure to assess racial self-identity in young black girls. The two groups of black children (3- to 4-yr.-olds and 6- to 7-yr.-olds) were shown three dolls that differed in skin color and/or hair style. They were asked which doll looked like them, which doll was prettiest, and which doll was ugliest. Although the majority of both groups identified with the black dolls, the older children displayed a more accurate racial self-identity. The children differed significantly in their perception of the ugliest doll: the younger group selected the black doll wearing an afro while the older group selected the white doll. These results were discussed in terms of the role of greater experience with blacks and whites and a possible over-reaction to the “black is beautiful” feeling on the part of the older group.

Decreolization?

1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Bailey ◽  
Natalie Maynor
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Black English ◽  
Elderly Adults ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
American Black ◽  
Grammatical Change

ABSTRACTAs scholars have begun to reach a consensus on the Black English Vernacular (BEV) over the last decade, three important assumptions about that variety have emerged: (a) the grammars of children and adults are essentially alike, (b) BEV is decreolizing, and (c) most differences between BEV and white speech are the result of the persistence of creole features. However, these assumptions are largely based on comparisons of the speech of North American black children to that of Caribbean creole speakers, with no real attempt to establish the direction of grammatical change in BEV. Our work with black children and elderly adults in Texas tries to determine the direction of grammatical change in black English. This work suggests that all three of the assumptions listed above are unwarranted. The grammars of elderly adults and children are structurally, not just quantitatively different. The differences between the two varieties indicate that BEV is not decreolizing but is actually diverging from white speech. Finally, the differences suggest that differences between black and white speech are sometimes the result of contemporary developments rather than of the persistence of creole features. (Black English, decreolization, divergence, language change, reanalysis, sociolinguistics)

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