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Phonological Milestones For African American English-Speaking Children Learning Mainstream American English As A Second Dialect, Barbara Zurer Pearson, Shelley Velleman, Tiffany Charko, Timothy J. Bryant

Barbara Zurer Pearson

Purpose: This study provides milestones for phonological development in African American English (AAE) speakers learning Mainstream American English (MAE) as a second dialect for use by practicing speech-language pathologists. Method: The Dialect Sensitive Language Test (DSLT, Seymour et al., 2000) was administered to a nationwide sample of typically-developing children ages 4-12: 537 speakers of AAE as a first dialect and 317 speakers of MAE as a first dialect. DSLT items tested all consonant segments and many clusters of MAE in initial and final position. The age at which each dialect group reached 90% criterion for each segment in each position …