Course Description
This two-week course brings together first language acquisition and sociolinguistics in the analysis of dialect variation in the earliest stages of language development: when and how do children acquire the complex patterns of variation evidenced in adolescent and adult speech?
To answer this question, we focus on caregiver input and child output in acquiring dialect forms across a range of studies.
Questions to be addressed in the class include:
- What does Child Directed Speech look like in the context of dialect variation?
- Is there a correlation between caregiver input and child output in use of non-standard forms?
- What part does gender play in the development of norms?
- Are variable forms acquired at the same time as categorical forms?
- How does the variation acquired in the first years of development play out in later life?
Area Tags: Acquisition, Dialects, Sociolinguistics, Variation
(Session 2) Monday/Thursday 3:00pm – 4:20pm
Location: ILC N101
Instructor: Jennifer Smith
Professor Jennifer Smith graduated in Linguistics from Durham (MA) and York (PhD). Her research is in sociolinguistics and language variation and change, focussing on dialect morphosyntax, particularly in varieties of Scots. She has worked on the acquisition of variation in preschool children, bidialectalism, and the intersection of sociolinguistics and syntax. She has directed a number of large-scale digital projects, including The Scots Syntax Atlas and Speak for Yersel.
