Variation revisited : syntactic and morphosyntactic variation in heritage speakers of German in the United States

Tsehaye, Wintai

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URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-674740
Document Type:	Doctoral dissertation
Year of publication:	2024
Place of publication:	Mannheim
University:	Universität Mannheim
Evaluator:	Keller, Mareike
Date of oral examination:	27 May 2024
Publication language:	English
Institution:	School of Humanities > Anglistik I - Anglistische Linguistik (Tracy 1995-2019)
License:	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Subject:	400 Language, linguistics
Keywords (English):	heritage speakers , heritage German , language contact , bilingualism , syntax , morphosyntax , register
Abstract:	This dissertation investigates spoken and written productions of German adolescent, first-generation heritage speakers in the United States. The analyses focus on the (non-)canonicity of syntactic and morphosyntactic productions and investigate the influence of language contact, bilingualism, language dominance, and register thereupon. The results have shown that core syntactic and early acquired phenomena which lie at internal interfaces are stable and largely canonical. In contrast, later acquired phenomena and those that lie at internal and external interfaces show higher degrees of non-canonical variation, which is, however, idiosyncratically highly systematic. The analyses have furthermore shown that register substantially influences productions: Heritage speakers showed effects of register leveling in their spoken productions. Overall, this dissertation further supports the view that heritage speakers are native speakers of both their heritage and majority language and that their non-canonical productions are not only systematic but remain largely within the realms of German grammar.