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The Development of Regional Dialect Locality Judgments and Language Attitudes Across the Life Span
Author(s) -
McCullough Elizabeth A.,
Clopper Cynthia G.,
Wagner Laura
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12984
Subject(s) - psychology , locality , life span , solidarity , perception , developmental psychology , language development , demography , gerontology , linguistics , sociology , medicine , philosophy , neuroscience , politics , political science , law
The development of language attitudes and perception of talker regional background was investigated across the life span ( N = 240, age range = 4–75 years). Participants rated 12 talkers on dimensions of geographic locality, status, and solidarity. Children could classify some dialects by locality by age 6–7 years and showed adult‐like patterns by age 8 years. Children showed adult‐like status ratings for some dialects by age 4–5 years but were not fully adult‐like until age 12 years. Solidarity ratings were more variable and did not exhibit a clear developmental trajectory, although some adult‐like patterns were in place by age 6–7 years. Locality ratings were a significant but modest predictor of attitude ratings, suggesting that geographic knowledge is one contributor to language attitudes throughout development.