Spelling development is a linguistic process which involves the interaction of phonological, orthographic, and morphological knowledge (Bahr, Silliman, & Berninger, in press). It is also clear these linguistic factors are influenced by a person's dialect. Previous research has indicated that use of African American English (AAE) does influence spelling performance (Kohler, Bahr, Silliman, Bryant, Apel, & Wilkinson, 2007); however, few studies have considered how dialect use influences spelling as a function of spelling task (i.e., real vs. non-word tasks), error category (phonological, orthographic, or morphological) or grade. A secondary goal was to note if dialectal or developmental errors predominated in the noted misspellings. The Phonological, Orthographic, and Morphological Assessment of Spelling (POMAS, Silliman, Bahr, & Peters, 2006) was used to provide a fine-grained analysis of the spelling errors of 80 typically developing African American children in grades 1 (n = 39) and 3 (n = 41). These children were screened for language ability and they were determined to be AAE speakers by observing their use of phonological and/or morphosyntactic dialect features when retelling a story. Age-appropriate real word and non-word spelling tasks were developed which incorporated common features of AAE. A three-way ANOVA revealed that differences in error frequency were dependent upon word type, error type and grade. On the real word spelling task, children in both grades made more orthographic errors than phonological or morphological errors. On the non-word spelling task, students in both grades made fewer orthographic errors and students in grade 3 made significantly more phonological errors, while the number of phonological errors noted remained fairly constant across tasks for the children in grade 1. Common misspelling patterns revealed developmental errors, as well as errors attributed to AAE. A closer look at the occurrence of AAE features revealed that first graders were more likely to reflect dialectal patterns in their spelling than the third graders. This is possibly due to differences in exposure to the academic register and experience in code-switching. Finally, the real words elicited more AAE features than non-words suggesting that phonetic and linguistic contexts might influence the occurrence and use of AAE.

No description available.

No description available.

The differences in attitudes toward African American English (AAE) and Mainstream American English (MAE) were investigated among elementary students (N=34) and middle school students (N=40) using the Speech Evaluation Instrument (SEI). Participants listened to audio recordings of speakers of AAE and MAE and then completed the SEI. Both elementary and middle school students perceived MAE positively (p =.005), as hypothesized. However, for both hypotheses related to AAE, the researcher hypothesized that both groups would perceive the language negatively; however, in both cases, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis. Comparing how each group perceived the two languages, it was found that both groups perceived MAE more positively than they did AAE. With regard to perceptions of AAE, middle school students did not perceive AAE more favorably than elementary students did, as had been hypothesized. On individual scales of the Speech Evaluation Instrument, both elementary and middle school students perceived speakers of MAE more positively than they did speakers of AAE. Students felt that speakers of MAE were better readers, smarter, and more likely to be rich than speakers of AAE. Although, middle school students were more likely to feel that speakers of MAE were more intelligent and more likely to be leaders than speakers of AAE; elementary students did not feel the same way. For middle school students there was a statistically significant difference in how they perceived speakers of the two languages. Middle school students perceived speakers of MAE to be more helpful, more friendly, nicer, and kinder than speakers of AAE. The study concluded that both elementary and middle school students perceived MAE more positively than they did AAE. There appeared to be a shift in perceptions the longer students are in school. The study also revealed that perceiving MAE more positively than AAE did not indicate the participants perceived AAE negatively.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-63).

Detta examensarbete är indelat i tre delar. Examensarbetet består av en översättning av tre kapitel ur Etta James självbiografi Rage to survive: the Etta James story skriven av James och spökförfattaren David Ritz, samt ett kapitel om vilka textspecifika översättningsproblem som uppstod vid översättningen. Den tredje delen består av en djupanalys av hur varieteten African-American English (AAE) översatts i två andra verk, nämligen I know why the caged bird sings av Maya Angelou och The bluest eye av Toni Morrison där översättningarna av dessa verk jämförs med min översättning av Rage to survive: the Etta James story. Djupanalysens syfte är att undersöka hur många talspråksmarkörer som finns i de ovannämnda verken, samt hur många av dessa markörer är specifika för AAE. Dessutom används Englund Dimitrovas varietetsskala (2001). Detta för att undersöka huruvida måltexterna ligger på skalan i relation till källtexterna genom mängden talspråksmarkörer. Översättningen genomfördes med målet att ligga så nära källtextens stil som var möjligt med hänsyn till målspråkets grammatiska regler och förutsättningar. Detta för att kunna erbjuda den målspråklige läsaren en likvärdig effekt som läsaren av källtexten. För att uppfylla detta mål fick en del kompromisser göras. / This thesis is divided into three main parts. It consists of a translation of three chapters from Etta James’ autobiography named Rage to survive: the Etta James story, written by James herself and ghost writer David Ritz. The thesis also features a part involving the issues that arose when I translated Rage to survive: the Etta James story and how I solved these issues. The third and final part consists of an analysis of how African-American English (AAE) has been translated in two other novels in the past, namely I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison’s The bluest eye. I compare the translations of these two novels with my own translation of Rage to survive: the Etta James story in the analysis where I strive to gain insight into the norms for translating spoken varieties. The translation was carried out with the purpose of maintaining the stylistic and informal markers as intact as possible while at the same time adhering to the grammatical prerequisites of the target language (Swedish). / <p>Översättningen är borttagen ur den publicerade versionen i fulltext i DiVA (denna version) på grund av upphovsrätten.</p><p>The translation has been removed from the published version of the essay in DiVA due to copyright.</p>