Chapter 12. Differential object marking in heritage and homeland Italian
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Margherita di Salvo
Abstract
We examine variable patterns of use of differential object marking (DOM) in conversational Italian recorded in Toronto, Canada, and Calabria, Italy. An exhaustive sample of 366 direct objects, produced by Homeland and three generations of Heritage speakers, shows retention of the DOM system. Successive generations have lower rates of DOM, but this is because they don’t produce enough tokens of certain syntactic and semantic types (e.g., left-dislocated or indefinite pronouns). Thus, they have less opportunity to use DOM: token distributions account for their lower rates. In contexts with sufficient tokens, significant contrasts emerge, indicating that all generations retain the conditioning of relevant factors (Definiteness, Referent of Object, Verb Type, Dislocation). No effects of social network or linguistic practices emerged.
Abstract
We examine variable patterns of use of differential object marking (DOM) in conversational Italian recorded in Toronto, Canada, and Calabria, Italy. An exhaustive sample of 366 direct objects, produced by Homeland and three generations of Heritage speakers, shows retention of the DOM system. Successive generations have lower rates of DOM, but this is because they don’t produce enough tokens of certain syntactic and semantic types (e.g., left-dislocated or indefinite pronouns). Thus, they have less opportunity to use DOM: token distributions account for their lower rates. In contexts with sufficient tokens, significant contrasts emerge, indicating that all generations retain the conditioning of relevant factors (Definiteness, Referent of Object, Verb Type, Dislocation). No effects of social network or linguistic practices emerged.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of tables ix
- List of figures xiii
- Acknowledgements xv
- Editors and contributors xvii
- Chapter 1. Variation and second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. An investigation of the use of the multifunctional particle ‑ le by second language learners of Mandarin Chinese 15
- Chapter 3. Production and evaluation of sociolinguistic variation in Mandarin Chinese among children in Singapore 43
- Chapter 4. Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of L3 variation 71
- Chapter 5. What can Cantonese heritage speakers tell us about age of acquisition, linguistic dominance, and sociophonetic variation? 97
- Chapter 6. Spanish rhotic variation and development in uninstructed immersion 127
- Chapter 7. Linguistic variation and second language Spanish 159
- Chapter 8. Acquiring sociolinguistic competence during study abroad 199
- Chapter 9. Variation in choice of prepositions with place names on the French L1–L2 continuum in Ontario, Canada 223
- Chapter 10. Variation, identity and language attitudes 253
- Chapter 11. Sociostylistic variation in L2 French 279
- Chapter 12. Differential object marking in heritage and homeland Italian 311
- Chapter 13. On (not) acquiring a sociolinguistic stereotype 337
- Author index 359
- Subject index 363
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of tables ix
- List of figures xiii
- Acknowledgements xv
- Editors and contributors xvii
- Chapter 1. Variation and second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. An investigation of the use of the multifunctional particle ‑ le by second language learners of Mandarin Chinese 15
- Chapter 3. Production and evaluation of sociolinguistic variation in Mandarin Chinese among children in Singapore 43
- Chapter 4. Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of L3 variation 71
- Chapter 5. What can Cantonese heritage speakers tell us about age of acquisition, linguistic dominance, and sociophonetic variation? 97
- Chapter 6. Spanish rhotic variation and development in uninstructed immersion 127
- Chapter 7. Linguistic variation and second language Spanish 159
- Chapter 8. Acquiring sociolinguistic competence during study abroad 199
- Chapter 9. Variation in choice of prepositions with place names on the French L1–L2 continuum in Ontario, Canada 223
- Chapter 10. Variation, identity and language attitudes 253
- Chapter 11. Sociostylistic variation in L2 French 279
- Chapter 12. Differential object marking in heritage and homeland Italian 311
- Chapter 13. On (not) acquiring a sociolinguistic stereotype 337
- Author index 359
- Subject index 363
