Presentation - ECV2024-512

Children’s speech development: English (Appalachian)

Peter FLIPSEN Jr., Pacific University, Oregon, USA (flipsen@pacificu.edu)

Appalachian English (AppE) is spoken in the east central region of the United States, an area including all of the state of West Virginia and the adjoining parts of several surrounding states. It includes the same consonants, consonant clusters, vowels, diphthongs, and writing system as General American English (GAE). As with all dialects it is characterized by a series of systematic variations of consonants, consonant clusters, and vowels which define much of its unique nature. There are only two known studies of children’s acquisition of AppE making it difficult to reach definitive conclusions about acquisition of specific phonemes in this dialect at this time. There have been no studies regarding speech sound disorders in this population, and no specific speech assessments or interventions have been developed to date for use with speakers of this dialect.

Key words:
English, Appalachian, dialect, consonant, vowels, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Flipsen, P. Jr. (2025). English (Appalachian) speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

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