Job Love

Hi guys!

I thought that it was high time for some lighter fare, so this evening I'm going to share some stories from current research assistantship with you.

Right now I'm working a few hours a week in the lab digitizing audio clips from old VHS tapes. This involves finding the right child on the tape, and going through about 20 minutes of a session to 'cut out' about 20 individual words. These words are then being analyzed by a post doc student down in Texas; she's looking at vowel errors in children with southern accents. (Interesting aside: for a long time it was assumed that children with speech impediments only had problems with consonants. This is patently untrue, but there were no measures available to assess vowel errors. A woman in our department [who at that time was working down in Texas] developed one of the first tests for vowel errors. Very cool!)

So I sit in front of a computer, with a TV off to my right, and watch cute little kids with southern accents name pictures of objects (e.g., 'hat' 'boy' 'couch'). And while I sit there, I giggle madly. It's just too darn cute. Examples to follow!

The clinician and the child were looking at a picture with a bowl of popcorn and a bowl of peanuts in it.

"What's this?" asked the clinician.
"Popcorn," replied the child.
"And this?"
"Peanuts."
"Very good!" the clinician responded.
"I said 'penis'!" the child giggled.
The clinician was momentarily stunned, then turned the page and pointed to a cake, asking "what's this?"

Another clinician and another child were looking at a picture of a toy airplane together.

"What's this?" asked the clinician.
"A plane," the child answered.
"Can you tell me the big name for it?" the clinician queried.
"A PLANE," the child yelled.

Yet another clinician and another child were looking at a picture of a barn surrounded by common farm animals (a horse, a cow, and a pig). The clinician was trying to get the child to name the cow.

"What's this?" the clinician questioned.
"Ummm..." hemmed the child.
"We get milk from it," prompted the clinician.
"Umm..." the little girl hawed.
"It goes 'moo...'"
"It's a MOOSE!" bellowed the girl.

Now, for this last one, you must picture an adorable little black girl, about four years old. She's a non-rhotic speaker: she drops her 'r's. She sounds a little bit like she's from Boston ('pahk the cah in the garahge') but more southern. She was looking at a picture of a birthday cake with the clinician, and was excitedly telling the adult all about her own birthday the week before:

"I had a bethday pahty at Chuckeh Cheese!"

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my RAship!

Love,
Ela