Influences of Social and Style Variables on Adult Usage of African American English Features.
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| Title: | Influences of Social and Style Variables on Adult Usage of African American English Features. |
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| Authors: | Craig, Holly K.1 hkc@umich.edu, Grogger, Jeffrey T.2, Oetting, Janna, Loeb, Diane |
| Source: | Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research. Oct2012, Vol. 55 Issue 5, p1274-1288. 15p. 4 Charts, 1 Graph. |
| Subject Terms: | *Black people, *Employment, *Comparative grammar, *Speech evaluation, *Educational attainment, Analysis of variance, Interviewing, Race, Research funding, Sound recordings, T-test (Statistics), Socioeconomic factors, Repeated measures design, Medical coding, Descriptive statistics |
| Geographic Terms: | United States |
| Abstract: | Purpose: In this study, the authors examined the influences of selected social (gender, employment status, educational achievement level) and style variables (race of examiner, interview topic) on the production of African American English (AAE) by adults. Method: Participants were 50 African American men and women, ages 20-30 years. The authors used Rapid and Anonymous Survey (RAS) methods to collect responses to questions on informal situational and formal message-oriented topics in a short interview with an unacquainted interlocutor. Results: Results revealed strong systematic effects for academic achievement, but not gender or employment status. Most features were used less frequently by participants with higher educational levels, but sharp declines in the usage of 5 specific features distinguished the participants differing in educational achievement. Strong systematic style effects were found for the 2 types of questions, but not race of addressee. The features that were most commonly used across participants--copula absence, variable subject-verb agreement, and appositive pronouns--were also the features that showed the greatest style shifting. Conclusions: The findings lay a foundation with mature speakers for rate-based and feature inventory methods recently shown to be informative for the study of child AAE and demonstrate the benefits of the RAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Abstract: | Purpose: In this study, the authors examined the influences of selected social (gender, employment status, educational achievement level) and style variables (race of examiner, interview topic) on the production of African American English (AAE) by adults. Method: Participants were 50 African American men and women, ages 20-30 years. The authors used Rapid and Anonymous Survey (RAS) methods to collect responses to questions on informal situational and formal message-oriented topics in a short interview with an unacquainted interlocutor. Results: Results revealed strong systematic effects for academic achievement, but not gender or employment status. Most features were used less frequently by participants with higher educational levels, but sharp declines in the usage of 5 specific features distinguished the participants differing in educational achievement. Strong systematic style effects were found for the 2 types of questions, but not race of addressee. The features that were most commonly used across participants--copula absence, variable subject-verb agreement, and appositive pronouns--were also the features that showed the greatest style shifting. Conclusions: The findings lay a foundation with mature speakers for rate-based and feature inventory methods recently shown to be informative for the study of child AAE and demonstrate the benefits of the RAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 10924388 |
| DOI: | 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/11-0055) |
