Reading ‘T’ Continued from Page 7
The first story was about a star who wanted a kitten, and the other one was about a little girl with a big sister, and they wanted a cat.
UWM biologist named a fellow of the Animal Behavior Society
And then you listened to each recording and analyzed how moms read to their kids versus an adult. Did moms pronounce the /t/s differently between the two?
Rafael Rodriguez, UWM professor of biological sciences, has been elected as a fellow of
Yes! In the case of words like ‘button’ and ‘mitten,’ and ‘kitten,’ they did. And at the end of words like ‘cat,’ they would enunciate the /t/ more often. Flaps didn’t really change (when speaking between children and adults).
in recognition of his research contributions in animal cognition and sexual selection, contained in more than 90 publications.
What does that mean for how children learn language? I think it’s not really conscious. Some people insisted they didn’t speak any differently at all. I think what the mothers are doing is they are using a combination of a sound. None of the moms only said ‘butTon’ or ‘kit-Ten.’ They had a mixture. Sometimes they would speak like they would speak to an adult, and sometimes they would really enunciate the /t/ with a hard burst and the aspiration of air that comes out. We thought that maybe, by having a combination, they are giving kids the idea that this is a category. They’re hearing the same words used in the same context, and sometimes the mom enunciates the /t/ and sometimes doesn’t. This is just a guess, but the children might think, “Sometimes mom makes this sound and sometimes she makes this sound. It must not change the meaning.” By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
8 • IN FOCUS • September, 2021
the Animal Behavior Society
There have been only three previous ABS fellows from Wisconsin, and only one of those was from UWM – the late Millicent “Penny” Ficken. Rodriguez joined the UWM faculty in Rafael Rodriguez 2007. His research focuses on the causes of variation in behaviors that can help scientists understand the course of evolution. His studies have included communication, memory and mate preference, especially with insects and spiders. His research also has shown that such tiny brains show characteristics of higher intelligence. Rodriguez has been active in the ABS, helping to organize the 2018 annual meeting at UWM and editing a special issue of the society’s journal. He earned his master’s degree from the University of Costa Rica and his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology and entomology from the University of Kansas. The ABS is one of the largest professional organizations for animal behaviorists in the world, and it publishes the journal Animal Behaviour. Rodriguez’s election occurred Aug. 6 at the annual meeting of the society. By Laura Otto, University Relations
