Webb Gwendalyn, Williams Cori
School of Psychology, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.
Int J Speech Lang Pathol. 2021 Feb;23(1):38-47. doi: 10.1080/17549507.2020.1732465. Epub 2020 Mar 12.
Non-standard dialects, such as Australian Aboriginal English (AAE), are spoken across the globe, often by peoples from marginalised groups and communities. Speech-language pathologists in Australia need to be familiar with AAE in order to correctly and appropriately diagnose and intervene with Aboriginal clients. The purpose of this study was to identify the presence of AAE in the communication of pre-school-aged children in a regional area and to describe the features of AAE that these children used.
Interactions between early childhood educators and children were videotaped for a sample of 21 Aboriginal and 21 non-Aboriginal children. From these videos specific features of AAE were coded and analysed using parametric and non-parametric tests.
The communication of the sample of Aboriginal children differed significantly from that of the non-Aboriginal children. Several features of AAE were identified within this cohort, including: cluster reduction, zero use of /h/ and zero use of copula.
Differences in dialect exist in the communication of pre-school-aged children in regional areas of Australia. It is important for educators and health professionals to be aware of the features of AAE dialect so they can support Aboriginal children in their learning journey.
非标准方言，如澳大利亚原住民英语（AAE），在全球范围内都有人说，说这些方言的往往是边缘化群体和社区的人。澳大利亚的言语病理学家需要熟悉AAE，以便正确且恰当地对原住民客户进行诊断和干预。本研究的目的是确定在一个地区的学龄前儿童交流中AAE的存在情况，并描述这些儿童所使用的AAE的特征。
对21名原住民儿童和21名非原住民儿童的样本进行录像，记录幼儿教育工作者与儿童之间的互动。从这些视频中，使用参数检验和非参数检验对AAE的特定特征进行编码和分析。
原住民儿童样本的交流方式与非原住民儿童有显著差异。在这个队列中识别出了AAE的几个特征，包括：词簇简化、/h/音零使用和系动词零使用。
澳大利亚地区学龄前儿童的交流中存在方言差异。教育工作者和健康专业人员了解AAE方言的特征很重要，这样他们就能在原住民儿童的学习过程中提供支持。
