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Contact phenomena in language maintenance and shift: The Pennsylvania German infinitive construction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Marion Lois Huffines
Marion Lois Huffines
Affiliation:
Bucknell UniversityLewisburg, PA 17837
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Abstract

The formation of the Pennsylvania German dependent infinitive construction varies across Pennsylvania German speech communities. The use of zu to mark infinitives which do not complement modals is receding in all communities and has been replaced variably by far or far…zu. Younger nonnative speakers have grasped the (far)…zu construction as template for producing discourse. Sectarians (Amish and Mennonites) mark dependent infinitives less frequently than nonsectarians, and Amish speakers often avoid the construction by the progressive aspect. The influence of English on these developments is indirect. The loss of zu, the use of (far)…zu, and the sectarian omission of far and zu represent generalizations of different rules. The contact seems to have promoted generalization, but has influenced each group to generalize differently

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , July 1990 , pp. 95 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 1990

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References

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