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- Title
Cultural and Generational Factors Influencing Proverb Recognition.
- Authors
Brown, Janet E.; Wright-Harp, Wilhelmina Y.
- Abstract
Purpose: A survey was conducted to examine recognition by individuals from different cultures and age groups of proverbs drawn from African American culture. Method: A survey containing a list of 39 proverbs was distributed in three venues. A total of 361 responses were received, for a response rate of 28%. Respondents were asked to put a check next to the proverbs they recognized. The survey also asked respondents to provide the following demographic information: age, gender, race/ ethnicity, level of education, occupation, place of birth, and whether they were native English speakers. Results: Analysis revealed that the total number of proverbs recognized by African Americans was significantly greater than the total recognized by White Americans. Another relevant variable proved to be age: The youngest cohort (ages 19-32) of both African Americans and White Americans recognized significantly fewer proverbs than the older individuals in their racial/ethnic groups. Conclusion: Other studies have shown that the familiarity of a specific proverb may influence an individual's ability to provide an accurate interpretation. This survey demonstrated that the familiarity of specific proverbs varies according to an individual's cultural background and age. These findings suggest that cultural background and age may be factors leading to bias in scoring standardized tests for language or cognition that include proverb interpretation.
- Subjects
UNITED States; AGE distribution; ANALYSIS of covariance; BLACK people; CHI-squared test; CULTURE; LITERATURE; RELIABILITY (Personality trait); SURVEYS; T-test (Statistics); U-statistics; WHITE people
- Publication
Contemporary Issues in Communication Science & Disorders, 2011, Vol 38, p26
- ISSN
1092-5171
- Publication type
Article