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Chapter 12. Adult L2 acquisition of for- complementation in Chinese Pidgin English and Hong Kong English

A sociohistorical perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of for-complementation in Chinese Pidgin English (CPE) and Hong Kong English (HKE) from a sociohistorical perspective. Although CPE and HKE arise under different contact situations and time periods, surprisingly speakers of these varieties show parallelism in the use of for to introduce purposive clauses. The origins of for as a complementizer in CPE will be argued to be contributed by convergence of meanings and functions in Cantonese and English – the major input languages in the feature pools of both varieties. It will be shown that L2 learning provided the mechanism for the emergence of for in purposive clauses in CPE and HKE. Variation in sentential complementation in these two varieties of English supports one of the tenets in variationist historical sociolinguistics, namely synchronic and diachronic variation can inform and complement each other.

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of for-complementation in Chinese Pidgin English (CPE) and Hong Kong English (HKE) from a sociohistorical perspective. Although CPE and HKE arise under different contact situations and time periods, surprisingly speakers of these varieties show parallelism in the use of for to introduce purposive clauses. The origins of for as a complementizer in CPE will be argued to be contributed by convergence of meanings and functions in Cantonese and English – the major input languages in the feature pools of both varieties. It will be shown that L2 learning provided the mechanism for the emergence of for in purposive clauses in CPE and HKE. Variation in sentential complementation in these two varieties of English supports one of the tenets in variationist historical sociolinguistics, namely synchronic and diachronic variation can inform and complement each other.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Part I. Introduction
  5. Chapter 1. Language acquisition across the lifespan in historical sociolinguistics 2
  6. Part II. Perspectives on acquisition and change
  7. Chapter 2. Monolingual and bilingual child language acquisition and language change 44
  8. Chapter 3. The second language acquisition of variation in adulthood and language change 64
  9. Chapter 4. The dynamics of lifelong acquisition in dialect contact and change 84
  10. Chapter 5. Multilingual acquisition across the lifespan as a sociohistorical trigger for language change 104
  11. Chapter 6. Language acquisition across the lifespan and the emergence of new varieties 127
  12. Part III. Case studies
  13. Chapter 7. Tracing the emergence of the voseo/tuteo semantic split in Río de la Plata second person subjunctives 150
  14. Chapter 8. The influences of adult and child speakers in the emergence of Light Warlpiri, an Australian mixed language 179
  15. Chapter 9. Child and adolescent transmission and incrementation in acquisition in historical sociophonetic data from English in Missouri, 1880–2000 203
  16. Chapter 10. Language dominance across the lifespan in Wisconsin German and English varieties 234
  17. Chapter 11. The contact origin(s) of ‘hand’ and ‘foot’ > ‘limb’ in Antioquian Spanish 264
  18. Chapter 12. Adult L2 acquisition of for- complementation in Chinese Pidgin English and Hong Kong English 294
  19. Part IV. Future directions
  20. Chapter 13. Towards an acquisitionally informed historical sociolinguistics 318
  21. Language index 327
  22. Subject index 331
Lifespan Acquisition and Language Change
This chapter is in the book Lifespan Acquisition and Language Change
https://doi.org/10.1075/ahs.14.12li

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Part I. Introduction
  5. Chapter 1. Language acquisition across the lifespan in historical sociolinguistics 2
  6. Part II. Perspectives on acquisition and change
  7. Chapter 2. Monolingual and bilingual child language acquisition and language change 44
  8. Chapter 3. The second language acquisition of variation in adulthood and language change 64
  9. Chapter 4. The dynamics of lifelong acquisition in dialect contact and change 84
  10. Chapter 5. Multilingual acquisition across the lifespan as a sociohistorical trigger for language change 104
  11. Chapter 6. Language acquisition across the lifespan and the emergence of new varieties 127
  12. Part III. Case studies
  13. Chapter 7. Tracing the emergence of the voseo/tuteo semantic split in Río de la Plata second person subjunctives 150
  14. Chapter 8. The influences of adult and child speakers in the emergence of Light Warlpiri, an Australian mixed language 179
  15. Chapter 9. Child and adolescent transmission and incrementation in acquisition in historical sociophonetic data from English in Missouri, 1880–2000 203
  16. Chapter 10. Language dominance across the lifespan in Wisconsin German and English varieties 234
  17. Chapter 11. The contact origin(s) of ‘hand’ and ‘foot’ > ‘limb’ in Antioquian Spanish 264
  18. Chapter 12. Adult L2 acquisition of for- complementation in Chinese Pidgin English and Hong Kong English 294
  19. Part IV. Future directions
  20. Chapter 13. Towards an acquisitionally informed historical sociolinguistics 318
  21. Language index 327
  22. Subject index 331
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