The evolution of a Bilingual Discourse Marking System: Modal particles and English markers in German-American dialects

Previous studies (Clyne, 1972, 1987; Salmons, 1990) have shown that German dialects in long-term contact with English have both borrowed key English discourse markers (well, you know, and so on) and lost much of the native discourse- marking system of German (most notably the “modal particles”). For...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The international journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior cross-linguistic studies of language behavior, 2000-12, Vol.4 (4), p.469-484
Main Authors: Goss, Emily L., Salmons, Joseph C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bilingualism
Code Switching (Language)
Diachronic Linguistics
Dialects
Discourse Analysis
English
German
Language Contact
Linguistic Borrowing
Linguistic Theory
Second Languages
United States
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Previous studies (Clyne, 1972, 1987; Salmons, 1990) have shown that German dialects in long-term contact with English have both borrowed key English discourse markers (well, you know, and so on) and lost much of the native discourse- marking system of German (most notably the “modal particles”). For the study of language- contact change, discourse markers are particularly interesting, first as items in a sense on the boundary between ordinary lexical items and structural borrowing, and second because they are typically salient to bilingual speakers. This paper uses Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language- Frame model to examine new evidence on the diachronic process leading to this contemporary situation. We draw on the representation of spoken language in two German-language dramas written around the turn of the 20th century, one in Wisconsin and the other in Texas. The data suggest that English markers first entered German speech as emblematic codeswitches and eventually became established borrowings, which then paved the way for loss of the native system.
ISSN:1367-0069
1756-6878
DOI:10.1177/13670069000040040501