Several professors look at how children between the ages of five and nine judged speakers of three English varieties to see how kids form opinions about people based only on how they sound.
Imagine you're five years old. You're asked to listen to three voices, each speaking English a little differently. One sounds like the standard English you hear on TV. Another sounds like it has a Spanish accent. And the third? It reflects the patterns and rhythms of African American English (AAE). Now, you're told to pick which voice belongs to the duck you'd want as a friend. It might seem like a harmless classroom activity, but for researchers studying how children perceive language, it's very informative.
A recent study by H. Johnson, under the supervision of W. Smemoe, J. Stanley, and A. Rosborough, called "Ducks in the Pond: Elementary-School-Age Children's Perceptions of Standard American English, African American English, and Spanish-Accented English on Scales of Status and Solidarity" looked at how children between the ages of five and nine judged speakers of three English varieties: Standard American English (SAE), African American English (AAE), and Spanish-accented English (SpE). The goal of this study was to see how kids form opinions about people based only on how they sound—and how factors like age, media, exposure, and cultural background play into those opinions.
The Setup: Ducks, Voices, and First Impressions
Researchers selected 76 young participants from Southern Idaho—a region where children typically don't interact directly with AAE speakers. Each child listened to recordings of other kids speaking in SAE, AAE, or SpE. To make things engaging and age-appropriate, each voice was paired with a duck image. Then, the children were asked to do two things: rank the ducks (and by extension, the voices) on a pegboard and choose which one they'd most like to be friends with. The results offered a window into how even young children begin to absorb—and act on—social ideas about language.
The Findings: Status, Friendship, and Stereotypes
Children tended to rank SAE as having the highest status, rating it above Spanish-accented English. But interesting, SAE and AAE were ranked similarly when it came to status unless the child had higher exposure to TV—then SAE pulled ahead. It seems media exposure plays a significant role in shaping how kids judge language. Additionally, native English speakers tended to rank SpE higher than L2 speakers would.
When it came to friendship, or "solidarity", things got a bit more nuanced. Kids didn't clearly favor between SAE and SpE or AAE and SpE. But there was a significant preference for SAE over AAE in this category—more kids said they'd want to be friends with the SAE-speaking duck than the AAE one.
Their explanations were revealing. SAE was often described using positive terms like "happy" and "fun." AAE, on the other hand, got descriptions like "sad" or "lonely." As for SpE, it was somewhere in the middle—familiar to the kids, but not strongly linked to high status or emotion.
What This Tells Us
These early impressions, shaped by limited exposure and media portrayals, point to something much deeper: children begin to form sociolinguistic biases at a very young age. And these biases can have real consequences. A child who speaks in a non-standard variety of English—whether it's AAE, SpE, or something else—might be unfairly judged by peers. That could mean fewer friendships, more social isolation, and even challenges in school.
There's also a clear message here about the influence of media. Kids who had more media exposure were more likely to rank SAE above AAE in terms of status. If most English-speaking characters on TV sound like they're using SAE, it sends a quiet message about popular or accepted varieties of English.
So, Why Does It Matter to Us?
For college students—and future educators, parents, media creators, and policymakers—this study is a wake-up call. Language isn't just a way to communicate. It's tied to identity, belonging, and social power. If biases about how someone speaks are already forming in kindergarten, then it's never too early—or too late— to start thinking critically about the messages we send about language.
In the end, this study isn't just about kids and ducks. It's about how we learn, early on, to sort people into categories based on their voices—and how those categories can follow us for a lifetime.
Read the full article here.