Morphosyntax and word order in majority English across heritage speakers

在这个项目中，我们调查了新的语法模式，在大多数英语制作的遗产扬声器的德国，希腊，俄罗斯和土耳其生活在美国，我们专注于使用非规范的形态句法和词序，突出结构相关的内部接口和外部接口。在形态句法领域，我们探讨了语法形态（句法和形态之间的内部界面）和所指引入（句法和信息结构之间的外部界面）。在语序领域，我们探讨了动词的位置与直接对象（语法和形态之间的内部接口）和前置参数的左边缘的条款（语法和信息结构之间的外部接口）。与RUEG的总体方法一致，我们评估了语域（非正式与正式;口语与书面）和年龄（儿童、青少年、成人）的影响。我们进一步尝试梳理除了新的模式是否是由于跨语言的影响，从一个特定的遗产语言，或者更确切地说，是由于语言接触一般，通过执行三种类型的比较与其他RUEG项目合作：四个传统群体中的多数英语模式的比较（德语，希腊语，俄语，土耳其语），对同一遗产人口的主要英语和主要德语之间的模式进行比较（希腊语，俄语，土耳其语），并比较模式在大多数英语与相应的模式在每一个遗产语言。对于俄罗斯传统的扬声器，我们还比较了非规范使用的词序与韵律来传达信息结构，与P7合作。在可能的范围内，我们还比较了我们的研究结果与平行的结果，从文献上的L2英语作为L1讲德语，希腊语，俄语和土耳其语。总之，我们的研究结果将有助于我们了解的接触语言的地位，非规范模式在大多数英语的遗产发言者，其发展的来源，以及他们的发言者的更广泛的剧目的语言和寄存器的位置。

In this project, we investigate novel grammatical patterns in the majority English productions of heritage speakers of German, Greek, Russian, and Turkish living in the U.S. We focus on the use of noncanonical morphosyntax and word order, highlighting structures relevant to internal interfaces and external interfaces. In the domain of morphosyntax, we explore grammatical morphology (internal interface between syntax and morphology) and referent introduction (external interface between syntax and information structure). In the domain of word order, we explore verb placement with respect to the direct object (internal interface between syntax and morphology) and the fronting of arguments to the left periphery of the clause (external interface between syntax and information structure). Consistent with RUEG’s overarching approach, we assess the impact of both register (informal vs. formal; spoken vs. written) and age (child, adolescent, adult). We further attempt to tease apart whether novel patterns are due to cross-linguistic influence from a particular heritage language, or rather are due to language contact in general, by performing three types of comparisons in collaboration with other RUEG projects: a comparison of patterns in majority English across the four heritage groups (German, Greek, Russian, Turkish), a comparison of patterns between majority English and majority German for the same heritage populations (Greek, Russian, Turkish), and a comparison of patterns in majority English with the corresponding patterns in each of the heritage languages. For Russian heritage speakers, we additionally compare the non-canonical use of word order vs. prosody to convey information structure, in cooperation with P7. To the extent possible, we also compare our results with parallel results from the literature on L2 English as spoken by L1 speakers of German, Greek, Russian, and Turkish. In sum, our results will contribute to our understanding of the contact-linguistic status of non-canonical patterns in the majority English of heritage speakers, the sources of their development, and their position within speakers’ broader repertoires of languages and registers.