The general goal of the research is to study the acquisition and development of distinctive semantic-syntactic structures in African American English. The 18 month, longitudinal investigation will focus on two types of structures, go copula and invariant be, in the language of twelve working-class African American children, representing both genders and two age groups: 3.0 to 4.6 and 4.6 to 6.0. The key aims of the study are to: (1) determine the meaning of go copula and invariant be in the children's language; (2) describe changes that occur over time in go copula and invariant be syntactic constructions; and (3) determine the frequency of occurrence of go copula and invariant be in the language samples. The long-term objective of the research is to expand language development research on African American children. A practical goal is to utilize results from the study to improve language assessment and intervention for these children in health-related fields, e.g., speech and language pathology, child development and special education.

Project Start
1999-09-01
Project End
2000-08-31
Budget Start
1997-10-01
Budget End
1998-09-30
Support Year
28
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of the District of Columbia
Department
Type
DUNS #
137460275
City
Washington
State
DC
Country
United States
Zip Code
20008
Dorsey, Charles H; Cousin, Carolyn E; Lewis, Fred A et al. (2002) Ultrastructure of the Schistosoma mansoni cercaria. Micron 33:279-323