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Regional dialect perception across the lifespan: Identification and discrimination
Elizabeth A McCullough1, Cynthia G Clopper2, Laura Wagner2
1University of Washington, USA.
Language and Speech
|December 1, 2017
Summary
Children as young as 4 understand regional dialect cues, but adult-like perception develops through adolescence. This study tracked dialect understanding across the lifespan, revealing age and task-specific influences.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Sociolinguistics
Background:
- Adults can identify talker origin by speech, but children's dialect perception is less understood.
- Developmental trajectory of regional dialect representation remains largely unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the development of American English regional dialect perception across the lifespan.
- Examine how age influences the understanding of indexicality in regional dialects.
Main Methods:
- Utilized identification and discrimination tasks with American English regional dialects (Midland, Northern, Southern, New England).
- Recruited participants aged 4 to 79 from the Midwestern United States.
- Assessed listeners' ability to perceive regional dialect variations.
Main Results:
- Listeners aged 4-5 demonstrated understanding of the identity-marking role of some regional dialects.
- Adult-level dialect perception performance was not consistently achieved until adolescence.
- Dialect perception is influenced by the specific dialects presented and task difficulty.
Conclusions:
- Early understanding of regional dialect significance emerges in childhood.
- Adolescence is a critical period for developing adult-like dialect perception.
- Regional dialect perception is a complex process affected by linguistic and cognitive factors.
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