IULC Publications

Dialect Transmission and Variation: An Acoustic Analysis of Vowels in Six Urban Detroit Families

By Toni Deser

This study investigates children's acquisition of their native dialect. Its primary goal is to quantify the degree to which the parent influences the child's dialect under conditions where the child must make a 'choice' because the parents' dialect differs radically from that of the speech community. The secondary focus is variation during pre-adolescent and adolescent years. In addition, some demographic factors are examined to determine how they affect the children's 'choice' of dialect. The author suggests that parental influence is pivotal in the early years and continues to have significant influence even after peer and other social factors begin to affect speech patterns.

164 pages
$9.50

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