VARIABLE COPULA PRODUCTION BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN

区分方言差异和语言障碍 非裔美国儿童是研究人员长期关注的问题， 教育工作者和临床医生。 它是一种特殊 并发症是语言障碍的一个共同特征， 也是非裔美国人的一个常见特征 英文（AAE）。 这一试点项目的目的是确定包容性的特点， 排除系动词，句法语义和语用 它在年轻的非洲裔美国儿童中的使用特点。的 受试者是来自低收入家庭的4岁半至5岁半的儿童， 使用AAE。一个20分钟的自由发挥连接话语的样本将是 收集并分析特定的连接类型，以及描述性的 了解每个孩子的口头表达。 一系列Copula 已经开发了探针，以创造使用低 频率Copula形式，理解和认知将被检查 以提供关于孩子的额外描述性信息。t检验 并将多变量分析程序应用于数据。 将检查结局是否存在与性别相关的系统性差异 以及正常和语言障碍的区别 这个试点项目的结果将促进我们对一个 重要的AAE方言形式。 理解Copula 对非裔美国儿童来说，包容和排斥是不同的， 提高我们建立对语言表现期望的能力 和这些孩子在一起，并认识到方言的混乱模式， 使用.

Distinguishing dialectal differences from language disorders in African-American children is a long-standing concern for researchers, educators, and clinicians working with this population. It is a special complication that a common characteristic of language disorders, deletion of copula forms, is also a highly frequent feature of African-American English (AAE). The purpose of this pilot project is to characterize the inclusion and exclusion of the copula, and the syntactic-semantic and pragmatic characteristics of its use in young African-American children. The subjects are 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 year old children from low-income homes who use AAE. A 20-min. freeplay sample of connected discourse will be collected, and analyzed for specific copula types, and for descriptive information about each child's oral expression. A series of copula probes have been developed to create opportunities for the use of low frequency copula forms, and comprehension and cognition will be examined to provide additional descriptive information about the children. T-tests and multivariate analysis procedures will be applied to the data. Outcomes will be examined for systematic differences relative to gender and normal versus disordered language status. The results of this pilot project will advance our understanding of an important AAE dialect form. Understanding the ways in which copula inclusion and exclusion differ for African-American children would improve our ability to establish expectations for language performance with these children, and to recognize disordered patterns of dialect usage.