Chapter 7
Early immigrant English
Midwestern English before the dust settled
We explore the development of final obstruent neutralization (German Bad ‘bath’: /ba:d/ =
[ba:t]) and other features of an emerging Wisconsin English variety that has been shaped by contact, while considering
multiple factors such as input, contact, and influence from other varieties. We draw our data from immigrant letters
and supplement these with what is known about education and language guides available to early immigrants, as well as
contact with other language varieties and dialects. Through time and over remarkably heterogeneous varieties of
English and German, we trace the presence of this feature in German and English, where it has been transformed.
Article outline
- 0.Introduction
- 1.Context
- 2.The twisted path of one innovation and the possible role of education
- 3.The broader picture: English dialect features in immigrant letters
- 3.1The Asbach letters
- 3.2Sophia Goth’s English letter: Excerpts
- 3.3Fred Volkmann English letter: Excerpts
- 4.Feature analysis
- 4.1Transitional nonnative features
- 4.2Enduring but less directly structural features
- 4.3Ambiguous features
- 4.4Possible dialectal American English-origin patterns
- 5.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgments
-
Notes
-
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