By William Kang and Lihong Chan
Some children are being wrongly diagnosed with speech disorders for using a language variety of English that they’ve grown up hearing their entire lives, says linguistics scholar Tracy Conner.
A visiting professor at UC Santa Barbara , Conner is identifying and establishing syntactical patterns of African American English (AAE) to prevent its speakers from being misdiagnosed with speech disorders.
“We need a deeper understanding of the full system of AAE and to engage with these rare [syntactical] constructions,” she said in a recent talk.
Conner was invited to one of the UCSB Linguistics Department’s biweekly colloquiums that allow speakers to present their research to fellow faculty and students in the field. She came to UCSB after earning a B.A. in linguistics and an M.A. in sociology at Stanford University, and then an M.A. in speech pathology and a Ph.D. in linguistics at UMass Amherst.
In a presentation titled “Silent Syntax,” Conner described her research, which details cases in AAE when the possessive or linking words are omitted in a sentence.
For instance, it is grammatically correct to say “Sarah’s dog,” but in AAE, occasionally the possessive is absent. Conner aims to develop a theory that identifies these kinds of unconventional speech patterns of AAE, in order to assist speech-language pathologists and K-12 educators.
Conner adapted her research from other theories that provide benchmarks for language comprehension. But she says that when AAE speakers are observed against these theories, it can result in the wrong diagnosis.
She asserts that proper detection of speech disorders can only happen if this kind of research is popularized and further developed. The biggest challenge is to make this information palatable to speech-language pathologists and a wider audience, she said. She hopes that the broader impact of this research can eventually reach associations, publications, and scholastic testing manufacturers in order to effect a more sophisticated understanding of AAE’s syntax, to benefit students.
After her presentation, Conner initiated a lively discussion where she received feedback on her research from graduate students and professors. Julia Fine, a graduate student, was impressed with Conner’s line of research as she wasn’t familiar with the topic prior. She believes that learning about research such as Conner’s allows her to see the connection to her field of phonetic analysis.
“Even though the research isn’t directly related to my area of study, it’s still fascinating and I’m really interested in the broader applications of new studies like this,” Fine said.
Mary Bucholtz, head of Linguistics, said the department’s research colloquiums have far-reaching benefits. “We open these events to the public so that we can connect our department to the people on the outside.”
Because linguistics is highly interdisciplinary in nature, Bucholtz says it’s crucial to share the department’s latest work with other fields.
William Kang is a fourth-year UC Santa Barbara student majoring in English and minoring in Writing. Lihong Chan is a fourth-year UC Santa Barbara student majoring in Dance. They collaborated on this article for their class Journalism for the Web and Social Media.