The Growth of Complex Syntax in School-Age African American Children Who Speak African American English.

The children were followed from at least 8 years old, so the study cannot describe how dialect density and syntax develop before that age. Many children had only one time point: 268 of 513 contributed one measurement, and parent study retention was about 56%, with a refreshment sample of 360 children. The scaled score comparison used a national norming sample that was mostly White, about 78%, and not matched to the low-income urban sample. The dialect density measure was based on 15 items focused on phonological and morphological variation, not full sentence-level AAE syntax. The model could not estimate random growth effects, so individual differences in growth rates were not fully captured. The sample came from very low-income schools in one Southeastern U.S. urban district, so results may not apply to other African American English communities.

The authors report support from the National Institutes of Health, Grant 1R24HDO7545-01, awarded to Julie Washington.

Do not read low scaled scores as proof of weaker syntax. The scores were compared with norms that did not match the children's language, and higher dialect density beyond 50% was linked to lower initial scores but not to slower growth.