Language Processing in Children & Their Parents

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PROJECT SUMMARY The proposed study complements that of its parent study on dialect detection in school-age children, 1R21DC019997-01A1. In this project, we use webcam-based eye-tracking technology to compare processing of Mainstream American English (MAE) with Non-Mainstream American English (NMAE). The aim of the study is to move beyond the status quo in the eye-tracking literature which compares children to a group of college-student adults. We will compare dialect detection of children with their parents to capture real time language processing, using an online platform. Our central hypothesis is that children with stronger language skills will be sensitive to violations of phonology and grammar in NMAE and MAE, but that children with weaker language skills will show little sensitivity to such violations. Our hypothesis has been formulated based on extant research linking children’s processing speed with language ability (Borovsky, Elman, & Fernald, 2012; Law et al., 2017). Likewise, we expect parents to display faster processing skills than children given this adult advantage in the literature examining online processing of phonology (Zamuner, Moore, & Desmeules-Trudel; 2016), morphology (Gómez, Holtheuer, Miller, & Schmitt, 2021), syntax (Huang & Snedeker, 2013; Trueswell, Sekerina, Hill, & Logrip, 1999), and unaccented nouns and pronouns (Arnold, 2008). Yet, most of the literature compares children to college students, rather than to their parents. Therefore, to extend the extant literature, we compare children’s online processing with that of their parents, which we anticipate will be correlated. We plan to attain the overall objective by pursing the following specific aims: (1) to apply eye-tracking to evaluate sensitivities to violations of phonology in both MAE and NMAE, in 7-year-old children and their parents; and (2) to prepare for enrollment in an advanced degree program in communication sciences and disorders. At the completion of the proposed project, our expected outcomes are to have identified key dialect detection profiles of typically-developing children and their parents. These results will provide a foundational evidence base on dialect detection across the lifespan, supplying insights into normative development that have potential applications to the treatment of developmental language disorder.