Meaning-Less Differences: Exposing Fallacies and Flaws in "The Word Gap" Hypothesis That Conceal a Dangerous "Language Trap" for Low-Income American Families and Their Children

Autor/in	Baugh, John
Titel	Meaning-Less Differences: Exposing Fallacies and Flaws in "The Word Gap" Hypothesis That Conceal a Dangerous "Language Trap" for Low-Income American Families and Their Children
Quelle	In: International Multilingual Research Journal, 11 (2017) 1, S.39-51 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1931-3152
DOI	10.1080/19313152.2016.1258189
Schlagwörter	Low Income; Longitudinal Studies; Family Relationship; Socioeconomic Status; African Americans; North Americans; Interviews; Family Environment; Discourse Analysis; Comparative Analysis; Language Attitudes; Disadvantaged; Linguistic Theory; Language Research; Sociolinguistics; Urban Areas; Black Dialects; Academic Achievement; Phonology; Semantics; Syntax; Vocabulary + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Niedriglohn; Longitudinal study; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal methods; Längsschnittuntersuchung; Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; Afroamerikaner; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Familienmilieu; Diskursanalyse; Sprachverhalten; Linguistische Theorie; Sprachforschung; Soziolinguistik; Urban area; Stadtregion; Schulleistung; Fonologie; Semantik; Wortschatz
Abstract	The present article compares and contrasts linguistic findings from longitudinal studies of low-income Americans derived from evidence of recorded family speech interactions. Hart and Risley (1995) employed research assistants who spent 1 hour per month observing language usage among families from different socioeconomic backgrounds in their homes for 2.5 years. Baugh (1983) spent 40 hours per week during seven consecutive summers between 1969 and 1976 as a participant observer in a low-income African American community, conducting tape recorded interviews with African American families in various social circumstances during the final 4 years, which always included recorded interviews within each family home. Comparison of the linguistic results derived from the alternative data collection procedures allow for a reinterpretation of Hart and Risley's (1995, 2003) conclusions, casting doubt on their findings as well as their speculations about future linguistic prospects for Americans from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds due to false positive interpretations of their results that wrongly conclude deceptively enticing causalities. Regrettably, the alleged "word gap" is another incarnation of a deficit language hypothesis that is fundamentally flawed and woefully uninformed by decades of extensive linguistic research that has been conducted by many different linguists in various American inner-city communities since 1968. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01