My PhD research investigates the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence. While we know that preschool children are introduced to the variable features of their dialect by their caregivers (Smith et al. 2013), and that during adolescence they become the most innovative users of these features (e.g. Holmes-Elliott 2016), we lack a full understanding of how this competency develops during the intervening years. How do children move towards adult-like sociolinguistic competency, with knowledge of features' social meanings and the ability to use them for complex social goals?

To answer this question, I collected a corpus of speech data from children in the Black Country aged 4-11 years. I developed tasks to elicit both formal and informal speech styles from children, and collected recordings in the school environment in interaction with myself and peers, as well as in the home environment (self-recordings) in interaction with caregivers. In addition, I collected a corpus of sociolinguistic interview data from adults in the Black Country, so that child and caregiver speech can be compared with wider community patterns. 

This corpus allows for the investigation of the development of sociolinguistic competence in middle childhood as well as for the comparison of variable usage and rates between the community, caregivers and children of different ages. Specifically, it allows for the tracking of the development of stylistic competencies, comparing children's use of features in different situational (task) and social contexts (environment and interlocutor).

You can see some of my findings from this corpus on the Presentations page, specifically my NWAV and BUCLD presentations.