Open AccessLanguage of the English-speaking Coloured child
Author(s) -
Rosanna Milstein
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
south african journal of communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.296
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2225-4765
pISSN - 0379-8046
DOI - 10.4102/sajcd.v23i1.384
Subject(s) - linguistics , psychology , competence (human resources) , english language , linguistic competence , mathematics education , social psychology , philosophy
The language deficient - language different controversy in the language of the Coloured child was investigated while at the same time examining Coloured English. The Ss comprised 20 nine-year old English speaking Coloured children, 9 boys and 11 girls. Language samples were obtained through direct questioning according to Halliday's language functions. From these samples, the non-standard language structures used by a significant number of the Ss were isolated, and examined. It was established that the Ss had competence for all these structures except that of relative sentences. Possible reasons for this were postulated. A sub-aim of the study was to compare the ratings of Coloured teachers and a group of speech therapists and university students of non-standard sentences used by the Ss. Based on the findings, several implications for speech therapy were discussed.