EAGER: Collaborative Research: Variation and the Grammar of Child African American English

语言方言的变异主要是针对成人言语进行的。越来越多的文献通过关注儿童的用法来关注这些方言的发展。这一点很重要的一个原因是，需要对一种方言及其习得和发展的准确理解，以识别典型的语言模式，以及何时模式表明语言障碍。语言学和沟通障碍专家之间的合作有可能回答有关儿童在方言中发展模式的问题，在这些方言中，成年人使用不同的形式，而习得的发展阶段尚未得到明确的描述和分析。该项目将收集关于特定方言习得的发展数据，以填补文献中关于可变形式习得发展阶段的空白，这些信息是该方言的儿童变种所没有的。更广泛的影响包括调查结果对开发更适合文化和语言的评估工具的作用，导致对说这种方言的儿童的评估结果更准确，代表不足的群体参与本科生研究，以及加强两个机构之间的研究合作，一个是历史上的黑人大学(HBCU)。这些活动将为本科生提供适用于STEM相关领域的背景和分析技能，如语言学和计算。这个项目是杰克逊州立大学(HBCU)和马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校(University Of Massachusetts Amherst)的研究人员合作的，目的是调查非裔美国人英语(AAE)中动词形态标记的发展模式。非洲裔美国人英语(AAE)中的系统性变异已经在研究中得到了解决；然而，在年轻的AAE使用者中，典型的发育性语言变异和语言障碍之间仍然存在模糊的界限。本研究在前人对儿童AAE的描述的基础上，运用当前句法理论中的定量分析和机制对实证数据进行分析，考察了形态标记与儿童AAE中[时态]和[协议]的实例化之间的关系。具体地说，该项目将分析过去时上下文中的动词和第三人称单数非过去时上下文中的子AAE。这些数据和结果将直接影响动词的形态标记(如第三单数S和-ed等过去形式)的习得路径，因为它将填补文献中关于可变形式习得发展阶段的空白，这是儿童AAE所没有的信息。该项目的发现将被用来描述与儿童AAE相关的正常变异如何与语言障碍系统地不同。调查结果将有助于开发更适合文化和语言的评估工具，从而为说AAE的儿童带来更准确的评估结果。更好地了解AAE语言系统将有助于解决有关AAE相互作用以及识字和其他以语言为基础的学术科目(如数学和科学)的获得等长期悬而未决的问题，并最终应为说AAE的儿童带来更多积极的教育机会。

The variation of language dialects has been primarily studied for adult speech. A growing literature is looking at the development of these dialects by focusing on children's usage. One reason this is important is because accurate understanding of a dialect and its acquisition and development are needed to identify typical linguistic patterns and when patterns are indicative of a language disorder. Collaborations between experts in linguistics and communication disorders have the potential to answer questions about developing patterns in children in dialects where adults use variable forms, and where the stages of development of acquisition are not yet clearly described and analyzed. This project will collect developmental data on the acquisition of a particular dialect to fill in gaps in the literature about stages of development of the acquisition of variable forms, information that is not available for the child variety of the dialect. Broader impacts include the usefulness of findings for the development of more culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment tools, leading to more accurate assessment outcomes for children who speak this dialect, the involvement in undergraduate research by underrepresented groups, and the strengthening of a research collaboration between two institutions, one a historically black college (HBCU). The activities will provide undergraduate students with background and analytical skills that are applicable to STEM-related fields, such as linguistics and computation. This project is a collaboration between researchers from Jackson State University (an HBCU) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst to investigate developing patterns in morphological marking on verbs in African American English (AAE). Systematic variation in African American English (AAE) has been addressed in research on the variety; however, there remains a blurred line of demarcation between typical developmental language variation and language disorder in younger AAE speakers. This study builds on previous descriptions of child AAE, and it applies quantitative analysis and mechanisms in current syntactic theory to empirical data in investigating the connection between morphological marking and the instantiation of [Tense] and [Agreement] in child AAE. Specifically, the project will analyze verbs in past tense contexts and in 3rd person singular non-past contexts child AAE. The data and results will bear directly on the acquisition path of morphological marking (e.g., 3rd singular -s and forms of past such as -ed) on verbs in that it will fill gaps in the literature about stages of development of the acquisition of variable forms, information that is not available for child AAE. Findings of the project will be used to describe how normal variation associated with child AAE is systematically different from disordered language. Findings will be useful in the development of more culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment tools, leading to more accurate assessment outcomes for AAE-speaking children. A better understanding of the AAE linguistic system will be useful in addressing longstanding questions that remain unanswered about the interaction of AAE and the acquisition of literacy and other language-based academic subjects, such as math and science, and should ultimately lead to more positive educational opportunities for children who speak AAE.