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Learning to talk Philadelphian: Acquisition of short a by preschool children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Julie Roberts  and
William Labov
Julie Roberts
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
William Labov
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Abstract

Recent work in the acquisition of variation has shown that children begin to learn patterns of stable variation at a very early age. In fact, it appears that they acquire variable rules at about the same time as they are acquiring related categorical rules. Little is known, however, about the transmission from generation to generation of features undergoing sound change in progress. Therefore, this study examines the acquisition of the Philadelphia short a pattern by 18 3- and 4-year-old children. Even though this pattern of the raising and tensing of short a is a complex one, the children had, for the most part, acquired it. In almost all cases, the children matched the short a distribution both of their parents and a group of adult Philadelphians who were interviewed in the mid 1970s and described in Labov (1989b). These results indicate that even the youngest members of the speech community are actively participating in ongoing sound change.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1995 , pp. 101 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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