This paper discusses 3rd person singular -sin the language of three- to six-year-old developing AAE speakers, in relation to early stages of zero 3rd person singular -s(Øs) and overtsmarking. Data include a sentence repetition task and a story retell task. The speakers’ 3rd person singular -s and Øs marking are examined as a function of age, verb type, allomorph, and verb coordination. Analyses are presented to support the claim that the 3rd person singular marker -sis not part of the AAE grammar although children produce the marker in certain contexts. The speakers’ 3rd person singular -sand Øs marking are also discussed in relation to the optional root infinitive stage and the Multiple Grammars approach.
Purpose
The purpose of this assessment-focused clinical focus article is to increase familiarity with African American English (AAE)–speaking children's pattern of language use in third-person singular contexts and to discuss implications for speech-language assessments of developing AAE-speaking children.
Method
The clinical focus draws on descriptive case study data from four typically developing child speakers of AAE who are between the ages of 3 and 5 years. The children's data from three different sources—sentence imitation, story retell, and play-based language samples—were subjected to linguistic analyses.
Results
The three sources of linguistic data offered different insights into the children's production of
–s
and other linguistic patterns in third-person singular contexts.
Conclusions
This study underscores the importance of exploring developing child AAE from a descriptive approach to reveal different types of information about patterns of morphological marking in different linguistic contexts, which is crucial in assessing developing AAE. Implications for language assessment are discussed.
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