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Chapter 7. Early immigrant English

Midwestern English before the dust settled
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Abstract

We explore the development of final obstruent neutralization (German Bad ‘bath’: /ba:d/ = [ba:t]) and other features of an emerging Wisconsin English variety that has been shaped by contact, while considering multiple factors such as input, contact, and influence from other varieties. We draw our data from immigrant letters and supplement these with what is known about education and language guides available to early immigrants, as well as contact with other language varieties and dialects. Through time and over remarkably heterogeneous varieties of English and German, we trace the presence of this feature in German and English, where it has been transformed.

Abstract

We explore the development of final obstruent neutralization (German Bad ‘bath’: /ba:d/ = [ba:t]) and other features of an emerging Wisconsin English variety that has been shaped by contact, while considering multiple factors such as input, contact, and influence from other varieties. We draw our data from immigrant letters and supplement these with what is known about education and language guides available to early immigrants, as well as contact with other language varieties and dialects. Through time and over remarkably heterogeneous varieties of English and German, we trace the presence of this feature in German and English, where it has been transformed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Processes of change in Late Modern English
  6. Chapter 2. Enregisterment and historical sociolinguistics 7
  7. Chapter 3. The obelisk and the asterisk 1
  8. Chapter 4. A (great) deal of : Developments in 19th-century British and Australian English 49
  9. Chapter 5. ‘ but a[h] Hellen d[ea]r sure you have it more in your power in every respect than I have ’ – Discourse marker sure in Irish English 73
  10. Chapter 6. Scotland’s contribution to English vocabulary in Late Modern times 95
  11. Chapter 7. Early immigrant English 115
  12. Chapter 8. African American English in nineteenth-century Liberia 139
  13. Part II. Processes of change in Present Day English
  14. Chapter 9. Attitudes to flat adverbs and English usage advice 159
  15. Chapter 10. The modal auxiliary verb may and change in Irish English 183
  16. Chapter 11. Levelling processes and social changes in a peripheral community 203
  17. Chapter 12. The goose vowel in South African English with special reference to Coloured communities in 5 cities 227
  18. Chapter 13. Borders and language 247
  19. Index 261
Processes of Change
This chapter is in the book Processes of Change
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.21.07lit

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Processes of change in Late Modern English
  6. Chapter 2. Enregisterment and historical sociolinguistics 7
  7. Chapter 3. The obelisk and the asterisk 1
  8. Chapter 4. A (great) deal of : Developments in 19th-century British and Australian English 49
  9. Chapter 5. ‘ but a[h] Hellen d[ea]r sure you have it more in your power in every respect than I have ’ – Discourse marker sure in Irish English 73
  10. Chapter 6. Scotland’s contribution to English vocabulary in Late Modern times 95
  11. Chapter 7. Early immigrant English 115
  12. Chapter 8. African American English in nineteenth-century Liberia 139
  13. Part II. Processes of change in Present Day English
  14. Chapter 9. Attitudes to flat adverbs and English usage advice 159
  15. Chapter 10. The modal auxiliary verb may and change in Irish English 183
  16. Chapter 11. Levelling processes and social changes in a peripheral community 203
  17. Chapter 12. The goose vowel in South African English with special reference to Coloured communities in 5 cities 227
  18. Chapter 13. Borders and language 247
  19. Index 261
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