Comprehension of pronominal reference by speakers of black English.
This study was concerned with the comprehension of pronoun reference by children from north Texas who used features of black English in their oral language. Forty-eight children were included in the study, eight selected from each chromological age group from four through nine years. Tasks required that the children listen to 15 sentences, five of which included a pronound with unrestricted reference and 10 of which included a pronoun operating under the nonidentity requirement with restricted reference to a subject outside of the sentence. In response to specific questions, subjects were required to point to toy figures that represented the pronoun referents in the sentences. Results showed a significant and uniform increase in comprehension as a function of chronological age, with no subject attaining less than 90% comprehension among the seven-, eight-, and nine-year-old children.
D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D013781:Texas