Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 5:2 (2015) ► pp.180–214

Syntactic restructuring in heritage grammars

Word order variation in Moundridge Schweitzer German

| Universität Mannheim
| Pennsylvania State University
In order to elucidate the structure of heritage grammars, this paper presents an analysis of word order variation in Moundridge Schweitzer German (MSG), a moribund heritage variety of German spoken in South Central Kansas. Based on elicited production data and an acceptability judgment task, we show that the current state of the MSG grammar maintains the asymmetric German verb-second (V2) and verb-final (V-final) word-ordering closely tied to specific pragmatic information associated with clause-types and complementizers. Extensive contact with English does not lead to adoption of English word order; rather, it occasions restructuring of German word order within the constraints of German syntax. We model these findings in a syntactic analysis following recent proposals by Putnam & Sánchez (2013) and Polinsky (2011) that challenge the notion of ‘incomplete acquisition’ as a way to conceptualize heritage language acquisition.
Keywords: heritage German, incomplete acquisition, reanalysis, syntactic change, word order variation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Effects of language contact and major issues in heritage syntax
    • 2.2Moundridge Schweitzer German as a heritage variety
  • 3.German word order
    • 3.1The acquisition of word order in (standard) German and dialect varieties
    • 3.2Subordinate clause word-order in German language islands
  • 4.Experiments
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Spontaneous production data
      • 4.2.1Procedure
      • 4.2.2Results
      • 4.2.3 dass-clauses
      • 4.2.4 weil-clauses
      • 4.2.5Temporal complementizers
      • 4.2.6Relative clauses
    • 4.3Experiment: Acceptability judgment task
      • 4.3.1Materials
    • 4.4.2Procedure
    • 4.4.3Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 July 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.5.2.02hop
References
Amaral, L., & Roeper, T.
(2014) Multiple grammars and second language representations. Second Language Research, 301, 3–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Antomo, M.
(2012) Interpreting embedded verb second: Causal modifiers in German. Proceedings of ConSOLEXVII, 27–51. [URL] (accessed: 10.4.2014)Google Scholar
Antomo, M., & Steinbach, M.
(2010) Desintegration und Interpretation: Weil-V2-Sätze an der Schnittstelle zwischen Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 291, 1–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Benmamoun, Elabbas, Silvina Montrul, and Maria Polinsky
(2013) Keynote article. Heritage languages and their speakers: Opportunities and challenges for linguistics. Theoretical Linguistics 39.3–4:129–181.Google Scholar
Besch, W., & Loffler, H.
(1977) Alemannisch. Düsseldorf: Pädagogischer Verlag Schwan.Google Scholar
den Besten, H.
(1983) On the interaction of root transformations and lexical deletive rules. In W. Abraham (Ed.), On the formal syntax of the Westergermania (pp. 47–131). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N.
(1995) The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Clahsen, H.
(1982) Spracherwerb in der Kindheit. Eine Untersuchung zur Entwicklung der Syntax bei Kleinkindern. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Clyne, M.
(1994) What can we learn from Sprachinseln? Some observations on ‘Australian German’. In K. Mattheier, and N. Berend (eds.), Sprachinseln (pp. 105–122). Frankfurt: Lang.Google Scholar
(2003) Dynamics of language contact. English and immigrant languages. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clyne, M., & Cain, H.
(2000) Trilingualism in related languages - Dutch-German-English near and far. In G. Hirschfelder, D. Schnell, & A. Schrutka-Rechtenstamm (Eds.), Kulturen - Sprachen - Uebergaenge. Festschrift fuer H.L. Cox zum 65. Geburtstag (pp. 135–152). Cologne: Boehlau.Google Scholar
Dubenion-Smith, S.
(2010) Verbal complex phenomena in West Central German: Empirical domain and multi-causal account. Journal of Germanic Linguistics, 221, 99–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fitch, G.W.
(2011) Changes in frequency as a measure of language change: Extraposition in Pennsylvania German. In M. Putnam (Ed.), Studies on German-language islands (pp. 371–384). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Freywald, U.
(2008) Zur Syntax und Funktion von dass-Sätzen mit Verbzweitstellung. Deutsche Sprache, 361, 246–285.Google Scholar
Fuller, J.
(1997) Pennsylvania Dutch with a Southern touch: A theoretical model of language contact and change. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of South Carolina-Columbia.
Gawlitzek-Maiwald, I., & Tracy, R.
(1996) Bilingual bootstrapping. Linguistics, 341, 901–936. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gawlitzek-Maiwald, I., Tracy, R., & Fritzenschaft, A.
(1992) Language acquisition and competing linguistic representations: The child as arbiter. In J.M. Meisel (Ed.), The acquisition of verb placement: Functional categories and V2 phenomena in language development (pp. 139–179). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Gelderen, E.
(2004) Grammaticalization as economy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grewendorf, G., & Poletto, C.
(2011) Hidden verb second: the case of Cimbrian. In M. Putnam (Ed.), Studies in German-language islands (pp. 301–346). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F.
(2008) Studying bilinguals. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Gross, S.
(2005) Attrition and typological change. Presentation, 2nd International Conference on First Language Attrition. Vrije Universitet Amsterdam.
Håkansson, G.
(1995) Syntax and morphology in language attrition: A study of Wve bilingual expatriate Swedes. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 51, 153–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, M.
(1975) The challenging faith. Newton, KS: United Printing Inc.Google Scholar
Lardiere, D.
(2009) Some thoughts on a contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 251, 173–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lightfoot, D.
(2006) How new languages emerge. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Louden, M.
(1988) Bilingualism and syntactic change in Pennsylvania German. Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University.
(2006) Pennsylvania German in the twenty-first century. In N. Berend, & E. Knipf-Komlósi (Eds.), Sprachinsel weltweit - The word of language islands (pp. 89–107). Berlin: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
(2011) Synchrony and diachrony of verb clusters in Pennsylvania Dutch. In M. Putnam (Ed.), Studies in German-language islands (pp. 165–186). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Möhring, A., & Meisel, J.M.
(2003) The verb-object parameter in simultaneous and successive acquisition of bilingualism. In N. Müller (Eds.), (In)vulnerable domains in multilingualism (pp. 295–334). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S.
(2008) Incomplete acquisition in bilingualism: Re-examining the age factor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009) Incomplete acquisition of tense-aspect and mood in Spanish heritage speakers. The International Journal of Bilingualism, 131, 239–269. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Bowles, M.
(2009) Back to basics: Differential object marking under incomplete acquisition in Spanish heritage speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(4), 363–383. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S., & Sánchez-Walker, N.
(2013) Differential object marking in child and adult Spanish heritage speakers. Language Acquisition, 201, 1–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Müller, N., Kupisch, T., Schmitz, K., & Cantone, K.
(2006) Einführung in die Mehrsprachigkeitsforschung. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Nordström, J.
(2010) Modality and subordinators. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Obler, L.K., & Pekkala, S.
(2008) Language and communication in aging. In B. Stemmer, & H. Whitaker (Eds.), Handbook of neurolinguistics (2nd ed.) (pp. 351–358). Oxford: Elsevier Press.Google Scholar
O’Grady, W., Lee, M., & Choo, M.
(2001) The acquisition of relative clauses by heritage and non-heritage learners of Korean as a second language: A comparative study. Journal of Korean Language Education, 121, 283–294.Google Scholar
Pascual y Cabo, D., & Rothman, J.
(2012) The (il)logical problem of heritage speaker bilingualism and incomplete acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 331, 450–455. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pires, A., & Rothman, J.
(2009) Disentangling sources of incomplete acquisition: An explanation for competence divergence across heritage grammars. International Journal of Bilingualism, 131, 211–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poeppel, D., & Wexler, K.
(1993) The full competence hypothesis of clause structure in early German. Language, 691, 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Polinsky, M.
(2006) Incomplete acquisition: American Russian. Journal of Slavic Linguistics, 141, 191–262.Google Scholar
(2008) Heritage language narratives. In D. Brinton, O. Kagan, & S. Bauckus (Eds.), Heritage language education. A new field emerging (pp. 149–164). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2009) What breaks in A- and A-bar chains under incomplete acquisition, Poster presentation at CUNY Sentence Processing Conference. UC Davis; 2009.
(2011) Reanalysis in adult heritage language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 331, 305–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Polinsky, M., & Kagan, O.
(2007) Heritage languages: In the ‘wild’ and in the classroom. Language and Linguistics Compass, 11, 368–395. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Post, R.
(1992) Pfälzisch. Einführung in eine Sprachlandschaft. Landau: PfälzischeVerlagsanstalt.Google Scholar
Putnam, M.
(2012) Dative case maintenance in Moundridge Schweitzer German via restructuring. Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik, 791, 41–67.Google Scholar
Putnam, M., & Salmons, J.
(2013) Losing their (passive) voice: Syntactic neutralization in heritage German. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 31, 233–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Putnam, M., & Sánchez, L.
(2013) What’s so incomplete about incomplete acquisiton? – A prolegomenon to modeling heritage language grammars. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 31, 478–508. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rein, K.
(1977) Religiöse Minderheiten als Sprachgemeinschaftsmodelle: deutsche Sprachinseln täuferischen Ursprungs in den Vereintigen Staaten von Amerika (Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik. Beiheft 15). Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag.Google Scholar
Reis, M.
(2013) “Weil-V2”-Sätze und (k)ein Ende? Anmerkungen zur Analyse von Antomo & Steinbach (2010). Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft, 321, 221–262. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Riehl, C.
(2004) Sprachkontaktforschung. Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
forthcoming). Language contact, language attrition and the concept of relic variety: The case of Barossa German. Bilingualism. Language and Cognition.
Rizzi, L.
(1996) Residual verb second and the wh-criterion. In A. Belletti, & L. Rizzi (Eds.), Parameters and functional heads: Essays in comparative syntax (pp. 63–90). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
(1997) The fine structure of the left periphery. In L. Haegeman (Ed.), Elements of grammar: Handbook in generative syntax (pp. 281–337). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roberts, I., & Roussou, A.
(2003) Syntactic change: A minimalist approach to grammaticalization. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J.
(2009) Understanding the natural and outcomes of early bilingualism: Romance languages as heritage languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 131, 155–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) Language attrition. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 31, 96–117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M.S., & Fägersten, K.
(2010) Disfluency markers in L1 attrition. Language Learning, 601, 753–791. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider, W., Eschman, A., & Zuccolotto, A.
(2002) E-prime user’s guide. Pittsburgh: Psychology Software Tools, Inc.Google Scholar
Schönenberger, M.
(2001) Embedded V-To-C in child grammar: The acquisition of verb placement in Swiss German. Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slabakova, R.
(2009) Features or parameters: Which one makes SLA easier, and more interesting to study? Second Language Research, 251, 313–324. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A.
(2004) Native language attrition and developmental instability at the syntax-discourse interface: Data, interpretations and methods. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 71, 143–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Pinning down the notion of “interface” in bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 11, 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stolberg, D.
(2014) Changes between the lines. Diachronic contact phenomena in written Pennsylvania German (Studia Linguistica Germanica). Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Truckenbrodt, H.
(2006) On the semantic motivation of syntactic verb movement in C in German. Theoretical Linguistics, 221, 257–306.Google Scholar
Truscott, J., & Sharwood Smith, M.
(2004) Acquisition by processing: A modular perspective on language development. Bilingualism. Language and Cognition, 71, 1–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Valdés, G.
(2000) Introduction. In Spanish for Native Speakers, Volume I. AATSPProfessional Development Series Handbook for teachers K-16, (pp. 1–20) New York, NY: Harcourt College.Google Scholar
Vikner, S.
(1995) Verb movement and expletive subjects in the Germanic languages. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Westergaard, M.
(2008) Acquisition and change: On the robustness of the triggering experience for word order cues. Lingua, 1181, 1841–1863. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wild, K.
(1994) Syntax der eingeleiteten Nebensätze in den “Fuldaer” deutschenMundarten Südungarns. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado.Google Scholar
Yapko, K., & Muysken, P.
(2014) Language change in a multiple contact setting: The case of Sarnami (Suriname). In I. Buchstaller, A. Holmberg, & M. Almoaily (Eds.), Pidgins and Creoles beyond Africa-Europe encounters (pp. 101–140). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 30 other publications

Lorella Bosco, Emilia Fiandra, Joachim Gerdes, Marella Magris, Lorenza Rega & Goranka Rocco
2023. Ferne und Nähe, DOI logo
Bousquette, Joshua & Michael T. Putnam
2020. Redefining Language Death: Evidence From Moribund Grammars. Language Learning 70:S1 ► pp. 188 ff. DOI logo
CHONDROGIANNI, Vasiliki & Richard G. SCHWARTZ
2020. Case marking and word order in Greek heritage children. Journal of Child Language 47:4 ► pp. 766 ff. DOI logo
D'Alessandro, Roberta, David Natvig & Michael T. Putnam
2021. Addressing Challenges in Formal Research on Moribund Heritage Languages: A Path Forward. Frontiers in Psychology 12 DOI logo
Dux, Ryan
2018. Texas German and English word order constructions in contact. In Constructions in Contact [Constructional Approaches to Language, 24], ► pp. 211 ff. DOI logo
Flores, Cristina, Esther Rinke & Claudia Wagner
2022. To hón ich imma insistieat. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 12:3 ► pp. 251 ff. DOI logo
Grenoble, Lenore A & Boris Osipov
2023. The dynamics of bilingualism in language shift ecologies. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 13:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Hoot, Bradley & Tania Leal
2023. Resilience and vulnerability of discourse-conditioned word order in heritage Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics 44:5 ► pp. 668 ff. DOI logo
Hopp, Holger, Michael T. Putnam & Nora Vosburg
2019. Derivational complexity vs. transfer effects. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 9:3 ► pp. 341 ff. DOI logo
Johannessen, Janne Bondi & Michael T. Putnam
2020. Heritage Germanic Languages in North America. In The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics, ► pp. 783 ff. DOI logo
Johannessen, Janne Bondi & Joseph Salmons
2021. Germanic Heritage Varieties in the Americas. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 252 ff. DOI logo
Joo, Hyoun-A
2022. South Korean immigrant workers in Germany: L2 German verb placement and sociolinguistic factors. International Journal of Bilingualism ► pp. 136700692211369 ff. DOI logo
Kinn, Kari
2021. Split possession and definiteness marking in American Norwegian. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 44:2 ► pp. 182 ff. DOI logo
Lohndal, Terje
2020. Predicting outcomes in heritage grammars. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23:1 ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
Lohndal, Terje
2021. Syntax of Heritage Languages. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 644 ff. DOI logo
Martohardjono, Gita, Michael A. Johns, Pamela Franciotti, Daniela Castillo, Ilaria Porru & Cass Lowry
2023. Use of the first-acquired language modulates pupil size in the processing of island constraint violations. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo
Meir, Natalia & Maria Polinsky
2021. Restructuring in heritage grammars. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 11:2 ► pp. 222 ff. DOI logo
Pashkova, Tatiana, Wintai Tsehaye, Shanley E. M. Allen & Rosemarie Tracy
2022. Syntactic Optionality in Heritage Language Use: Clause Type Preferences of German Heritage Speakers in a Majority English Context. Heritage Language Journal 19:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Perez-Cortes, Putnam & Sánchez
2019. Differential Access: Asymmetries in Accessing Features and Building Representations in Heritage Language Grammars. Languages 4:4 ► pp. 81 ff. DOI logo
Putnam, Michael T. & Andrew D. Hoffman
2021. Overextension in Gottscheerisch (negative) imperatives: proclisis at the edge of the first phase. The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 24:2 ► pp. 185 ff. DOI logo
Putnam, Michael T., Tanja Kupisch & Diego Pascual y Cabo
2018. Chapter 12. Different situations, similar outcomes. In Bilingual Cognition and Language [Studies in Bilingualism, 54], ► pp. 251 ff. DOI logo
Riehl, Claudia Maria
2023. Deutsch spricht man auch in weiter Ferne: Varietäten des Deutschen in Europa und Übersee. In Ferne und Nähe, ► pp. 109 ff. DOI logo
Stolberg, Doris
2019. Canadian heritage German across three generations: A diary-based study of language shift in action . Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics 5:2 DOI logo
Stringer, David
2020. Not all acquisition entails attrition: The persistence of syntax in the teeth of lexical breakdown. Second Language Research 36:2 ► pp. 225 ff. DOI logo
Tsehaye, Wintai
2023. Light-weights placed right: post-field constituents in heritage German. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo
Westergaard, Marit, Terje Lohndal & Björn Lundquist
2023. Variable V2 in Norwegian heritage language. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 13:2 ► pp. 133 ff. DOI logo
YILMAZ, Gülsen & Antje SAUERMANN
2023. Complete acquisition in the heritage language: Evidence from indefiniteness in Turkish. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi :33 ► pp. 813 ff. DOI logo
Łyskawa, Paulina & Naomi Nagy
2020. Case Marking Variation in Heritage Slavic Languages in Toronto: Not So Different. Language Learning 70:S1 ► pp. 122 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. Grammatical Aspects of Heritage Languages. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 579 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. Heritage Languages around the World. In The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics, ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 october 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.