African Social Pragmatics

Team presenting at the National Black Association of Speech Language and Hearing.

In April 2016, we presented a paper at the National Black Association of Speech Language and Hearing, held in Virginia Beach, Va. During this seminar a complete version of our model for identifying pragmatics in culturally and linguistically diverse populations was unveiled. The Human Cognition Cultural Values Model (HCCVM, DeJarnette, Hyter & Rivers, 2015; DeJarnette, Rivers & Hyter, 2016) is an emic framework applicable to national and international actors. Participants responded very favorably to the model and indicated that it fills a clinical void by identifying a cultural frame of reference for pragmatic behaviors in African American English speaking youths and adolescents.  Moreover, the audience applauded the model for its potential application to other CLD populations.