SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    Examining English Dialect Variation to Inform Theories of Childhood Specific Language Impairment  
Author(s)
Janna Oetting - Louisiana State University

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2011
Presentation Type: Invited Speaker
Presentation Time: (na)
Abstract
Although advances have been made in the study of specific language impairment (SLI) in nonmainstream dialects of English, there remain significant gaps in our knowledge of these dialects, and of the manifestations of SLI within them. These gaps in the literature create barriers to the representation of nonmainstream English-speaking children within applied and theoretical research, and this impedes the development of valid and efficient clinical services for children who speak these dialects. Within this talk I will present findings from a series of studies we have completed with kindergarteners who speak one of two nonmainstream dialects of English, Southern African American English and Southern White English. Using these data, I will demonstrate some of the ways in which child speakers of various nonmainstream dialects differ from each other even though their grammars contain the same set of morphological structures. Within these dialects, I will also show some of the ways in which nonmainstream English-speaking children with SLI differ from their same dialect-speaking, typically developing peers. I will end with a presentation of our current NIDCD-funded research project (5RO1DC009811). This project focuses on the tense and agreement systems of nonmainstream English-speaking children as a function of their dialect type, nonmainstream dialect density, and clinical status and includes a test of two theoretical models of SLI, the Extended Optional Infinitive account (Rice & Wexler, 1996; Rice, Wexler & Cleave, 1995) and the Feature-based Limited Functional Category account (Hegarty, 2005).
Author Biosketch(es)

Janna Oetting is a Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics at Louisiana State University. Her research focuses on the linguistic abilities of children with and without language impairments within the context of English dialect diversity and poverty as well as the efficacy of parent training programs and language screening services for children. Along with Drs. Michael Hegarty and Janet McDonald, her current NIH grant examines the linguistics systems of nonmainstream English-speaking children as a function of their English dialect type, nonmainstream dialect density, and clinical status. Her grant history includes funding from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Louisiana Department of Education, Louisiana Board of Regents, Children’s Trust Fund, the American Speech Language Hearing Foundation, and the Irene W. Pennington Foundation. She has also helped secure funding for graduate student training from the National Institutes of Health, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Louisiana Board of Regents, and the LSU McNair Program. She is currently the Editor of Language for the Journal of Speech Language Hearing Research and served as an Associate Editor for this journal in 1999-2001. She became a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2007 and currently serves on the Multicultural Issues Board for this organization. She became a Fellow of the Louisiana Speech Language Hearing Association in 2005, received Honors in 2007 and the Jeanette Laguaite Higher Education Award in 2008, and served as Vice President and President of this organization in 2001 and 2002.