Semin Speech Lang
DOI: 10.1055/a-2626-3292
Research Article: Pediatric
1
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College
Park, Maryland
,
Yi Ting Huang
1
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College
Park, Maryland
2
Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park,
College Park, Maryland
3
Maryland Language Science Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park,
Maryland
,
Jan Edwards
1
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College
Park, Maryland
3
Maryland Language Science Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park,
Maryland
› Author AffiliationsFunding A.S.B. reports support for this study from the Institute of Education Sciences (R2054170139),
National Science Foundation (NSF #1449815 and NSF #2234811), and American Speech Hearing
Foundation.
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Abstract
Dialect differences between African American English (AAE) and Mainstream American
English (MAE) impact how children comprehend sentences. However, research on real-time
sentence processing has the potential to reveal the underlying causes of these differences.
This study used eye tracking, which measures how children interpret linguistic features
as a sentence unfolds, and examined how AAE- and MAE-speaking children processed “was”
and “were,” a morphology feature produced differently in MAE and AAE. Fifty-nine participants,
ages 7;8 to 11;0 years, completed standardized measures of dialect density and receptive
vocabulary. In the eye tracking task, participants heard sentences in MAE with either
unambiguous (e.g., “Jeremiah”) or ambiguous (e.g., “Carolyn May”), subjects and eye
movements were measured to singular (image of one person) or plural referents (image
of two people). After the onset of the auxiliary verb, AAE-speaking children were
sensitive to “was” and “were” when processing sentences but were less likely than
MAE-speaking children to use “was” as a basis for updating initial predictions of
plural referents. Among African American children, dialect density was predictive
of sensitivity to “was” when processing sentences. Results suggest that linguistic
mismatch impacts how contrastive verb morphology is used to update initial interpretations
of MAE sentences.
Keywords
African American English -
sentence processing -
linguistic mismatch
Publication History
Article published online:
02 July 2025
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