Book contents
- Heritage Languages
- Heritage Languages
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 What Are Heritage Languages and Why Should We Study Them?
- 2 Experimental and Variationist Research on Heritage Languages
- 3 The Toronto Context
- 4 HLVC Methods and Tools
- 5 Cross-Variety Comparisons
- 6 Cross-Language Comparisons
- 7 Heritage Cantonese
- 8 Indexicality in Heritage Languages
- 9 Working with Heritage Languages in Linguistics Classes
- 10 What Heritage Language Speakers Tell Us about Language Variation and Change
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Cross-Variety Comparisons
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 July 2024
- Heritage Languages
- Heritage Languages
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 What Are Heritage Languages and Why Should We Study Them?
- 2 Experimental and Variationist Research on Heritage Languages
- 3 The Toronto Context
- 4 HLVC Methods and Tools
- 5 Cross-Variety Comparisons
- 6 Cross-Language Comparisons
- 7 Heritage Cantonese
- 8 Indexicality in Heritage Languages
- 9 Working with Heritage Languages in Linguistics Classes
- 10 What Heritage Language Speakers Tell Us about Language Variation and Change
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter reports on trends of continuity and divergence within the heritage generations examined and between heritage and homeland varieties. It discusses the degrees of similarities between the varieties in terms of (a) rates of use of innovative forms and (b) conditioning factors in the constraint hierarchy. The three variables examined are voice onset time (VOT, n=8,909), case-marking on nouns and pronouns (CASE, n=9,661), and variable presence of subject pronouns (PRODROP, n=9,190), each in three or more languages. The similarity in rates and conditioning effects across generations for (PRODROP), examined in seven languages, particularly contrasts with findings for this variable in experimental paradigms. Similarly, findings of little simplification or overgeneralization of the case system in three languages stands in contrast to the outcomes of several previous studies. (VOT) shows a drift toward (but not arriving at) English-like values for only some of the languages examined. For each variable, models are presented and interpreted; a table then details which aspects of the analysis contribute to the interpretation of stability and of each type of variation.
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- Heritage LanguagesExtending Variationist Approaches, pp. 92 - 158Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024