Chapter 10. Language dominance across the lifespan in Wisconsin German and English varieties
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Samantha Litty
Abstract
Large-scale German immigration to Wisconsin began in the first half of the 19th century and continued until about World War I. These immigrants built German-speaking institutions alongside English and other immigrant language institutions, allowing for the presence of German in many Wisconsin communities over several generations, along with a desire to preserve local history and heritage in the region. These practices are reflected in an archival record that allows for the study of features of local German and English over a period of 150 years. This chapter focuses on two such features, namely variation of voice onset time and final obstruent neutralization. A combination of historical written sources (spanning between the 1860s and the 1940s) and audio recordings from the 1940s and 2013 shows the existence of these features, as well as different periods along their development over time. This study looks at how language acquisition in heritage language communities and shifts in language dominance may have played a role in the emergence and development of these features in Wisconsin German and Wisconsin English varieties.
Abstract
Large-scale German immigration to Wisconsin began in the first half of the 19th century and continued until about World War I. These immigrants built German-speaking institutions alongside English and other immigrant language institutions, allowing for the presence of German in many Wisconsin communities over several generations, along with a desire to preserve local history and heritage in the region. These practices are reflected in an archival record that allows for the study of features of local German and English over a period of 150 years. This chapter focuses on two such features, namely variation of voice onset time and final obstruent neutralization. A combination of historical written sources (spanning between the 1860s and the 1940s) and audio recordings from the 1940s and 2013 shows the existence of these features, as well as different periods along their development over time. This study looks at how language acquisition in heritage language communities and shifts in language dominance may have played a role in the emergence and development of these features in Wisconsin German and Wisconsin English varieties.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements ix
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Part I. Introduction
- Chapter 1. Language acquisition across the lifespan in historical sociolinguistics 2
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Part II. Perspectives on acquisition and change
- Chapter 2. Monolingual and bilingual child language acquisition and language change 44
- Chapter 3. The second language acquisition of variation in adulthood and language change 64
- Chapter 4. The dynamics of lifelong acquisition in dialect contact and change 84
- Chapter 5. Multilingual acquisition across the lifespan as a sociohistorical trigger for language change 104
- Chapter 6. Language acquisition across the lifespan and the emergence of new varieties 127
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Part III. Case studies
- Chapter 7. Tracing the emergence of the voseo/tuteo semantic split in Río de la Plata second person subjunctives 150
- Chapter 8. The influences of adult and child speakers in the emergence of Light Warlpiri, an Australian mixed language 179
- Chapter 9. Child and adolescent transmission and incrementation in acquisition in historical sociophonetic data from English in Missouri, 1880–2000 203
- Chapter 10. Language dominance across the lifespan in Wisconsin German and English varieties 234
- Chapter 11. The contact origin(s) of ‘hand’ and ‘foot’ > ‘limb’ in Antioquian Spanish 264
- Chapter 12. Adult L2 acquisition of for- complementation in Chinese Pidgin English and Hong Kong English 294
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Part IV. Future directions
- Chapter 13. Towards an acquisitionally informed historical sociolinguistics 318
- Language index 327
- Subject index 331
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Acknowledgements ix
-
Part I. Introduction
- Chapter 1. Language acquisition across the lifespan in historical sociolinguistics 2
-
Part II. Perspectives on acquisition and change
- Chapter 2. Monolingual and bilingual child language acquisition and language change 44
- Chapter 3. The second language acquisition of variation in adulthood and language change 64
- Chapter 4. The dynamics of lifelong acquisition in dialect contact and change 84
- Chapter 5. Multilingual acquisition across the lifespan as a sociohistorical trigger for language change 104
- Chapter 6. Language acquisition across the lifespan and the emergence of new varieties 127
-
Part III. Case studies
- Chapter 7. Tracing the emergence of the voseo/tuteo semantic split in Río de la Plata second person subjunctives 150
- Chapter 8. The influences of adult and child speakers in the emergence of Light Warlpiri, an Australian mixed language 179
- Chapter 9. Child and adolescent transmission and incrementation in acquisition in historical sociophonetic data from English in Missouri, 1880–2000 203
- Chapter 10. Language dominance across the lifespan in Wisconsin German and English varieties 234
- Chapter 11. The contact origin(s) of ‘hand’ and ‘foot’ > ‘limb’ in Antioquian Spanish 264
- Chapter 12. Adult L2 acquisition of for- complementation in Chinese Pidgin English and Hong Kong English 294
-
Part IV. Future directions
- Chapter 13. Towards an acquisitionally informed historical sociolinguistics 318
- Language index 327
- Subject index 331
