LSLT: Michelle Erskine (HESP), Yu’an Yang (LING)

Double header! Lunch served at 12:15. 

Michelle Erskine (HESP)

Dialect mismatch influences language comprehension in young children

Previous research shows that linguistic mismatch (LM) is inversely related to language outcomes (Charity, Scarborough, & Griffin, 2004; Craig, Kolenic, & Hensel, 2014). However, the way in which LM contributes to language comprehension remains unclear. The present study investigates the effect of LM on language comprehension in children who speak a variety of English that differs in phonology and morphosyntax.

Yu’an Yang (LING)

Acquiring the ambiguity of wh-words in Mandarin

Abstract: Mandarin wh-items can be both question words (like English wh-items) and indefinites (like English any). In this talk, I will present data on how Mandarin three-year-olds interpret wh­-items in different contexts. We find that three-year-olds tend to get the interrogative meaning of wh-words in yes-no questions, which only allows indefinite readings in the adult grammar, but that they are able to use prosodic information to access both meanings. This suggests that children have acquired the ambiguity associated with wh-items by three, but have difficulties inhibiting the interrogative interpretation in certain contexts.