Jocelyn Dautel

Bilingual children’s social preferences hinge on accent

Past research finds that monolingual and bilingual children prefer native speakers to individuals who speak in unfamiliar foreign languages or accents. Do children in bilingual contexts socially distinguish among familiar languages and accents and, if so, how do their social preferences based on language and accent compare? The current experiments tested whether 5- to 7-year-olds in two bilingual contexts in the United States demonstrate social preferences among the languages and accents that are present in their social environments. We compared childrens preferences based on language (i.e., English vs. their other native language) and their preferences based on accent (i.e., English with a native accent vs. English with a non-native [yet familiar] accent). In Experiment 1, children attending a French immersion school demonstrated no preference between English and French speakers but preferred American-accented English to French-accented English. In Experiment 2, bilingual Korean American children demonstrated no preference between English and Korean speakers but preferred American-accented English to Korean-accented English. Across studies, bilingual childrens preferences based on accent (i.e., American-accented English over French- or Korean-accented English) were not related to their own language dominance. These results suggest that children from diverse linguistic backgrounds demonstrate social preferences for native-accented speakers. Implications for understanding the potential relation between social reasoning and language acquisition are discussed.

Intergroup resource distribution among children living in segregated neighborhoods amid protracted conflict

Even after a peace agreement, children often grow up within societies characterized by division and simmering intergroup tensions. In Northern Ireland, segregated Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods occur side by side, separated by “peace walls” or physical barriers that demarcate “interface” areas, which have higher levels of violence compared with non-interface areas. The study explored the impact of living in interface and non-interface neighborhoods, the strength of ingroup identity, and outgroup attitudes on intergroup resource distributions of 88 children aged between 5 and 9 years old, growing up in Belfast. The findings revealed that compared with those in non-interface areas, children living in interface neighborhoods distributed more resources to an ingroup member than an outgroup member. This effect was accentuated for those children that more strongly identified with their community group, either Protestant or Catholic. At the same time, children with more positive outgroup attitudes distributed more resources to an outgroup member, but only in non-interface neighborhoods. By applying a framework that incorporates converging social and developmental processes, the study adds to a mounting body of research that aims to understand the impact of living in divided societies on children’s intergroup attitudes and behaviors. The implications for promoting resource sharing across group lines within post-accord Northern Ireland are discussed.

Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language

Despite early emerging and impressive linguistic abilities, young children demonstrate ostensibly puzzling beliefs about the nature of language. In some circumstances monolingual children even express the belief that an individuals language is more stable than her race. The present research investigated bilingual childrens thinking about the relative stability of language and race (Kinzler & Dautel, 2012). Five-to six-year-old bilingual children were asked to judge whether a target child who varied in race (White or Black) and language (English or French) would grow up to be an adult who maintained the target childs race or her language. Similar to many monolingual children, a heterogeneous group of bilingual children on average chose the language-match. Yet French-English bilingual children were relatively more likely to choose the race-match, especially when tested in their non-dominant language. Specific experience with relevant languages, and communicating in a non-dominant language, may contribute to childrens developing metalinguistic success and their thinking about social categorization.