Auditory Discrimination Ability in Negro Dialect-Speaking Children

Abstract

Three groups of 40 first grade boys – Negro dialect-speaking, Negro standard English-speaking, and white standard English-speaking – were given an auditory discrimination test. The test was composed of two kinds of word pairs: (1) those pairs pronounced as homonyms in Negro dialect but as contrasting words in standard English, and (2) those pairs pronounced as contrasting words by all subjects. The word pairs were presented on tape by both Negro dialect and standard English speakers. The purpose of the study was to examine whether differences existed in auditory discrimination ability between the Negro dialect-speaking and the standard English-speaking boys. Results indicate that there were no significant group differences in auditory discrimination performance on those word pairs which could be commonly differentiated in the speech of all subjects. However, both groups of standard English-speaking children scored significantly higher than the group of Negro dialect-speaking children on those word pairs pronounced as homonyms in Negro dialect when they were presented contrastingly by standard English speakers.