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
-
References
References
Ahn, Franz Heinrich
1923 Ahn’s neuer amerikanischer Dolmetscher für Deutsche zum Erlernen der englischen Sprache ohne Lehrer:
Anleitung zur Aussprache des Englischen. Kurgefasste Grammatik nebst leichten Beispielen Gespräche,
Wörtersammlungen, Inserate und Zeitungartikel, Schriftlicher Verkehr usw. (New American Interpreter). New York, NY: Steiger. (Originally published 1920.)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Allen, Harold
1973–79 The linguistic atlas of the Upper Midwest. 3 volumes. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Avery, Peter & William J. Idsardi
2001 Laryngeal dimensions, completion and enhancement. In
T. Allen Hall (ed.),
Distinctive feature theory, 41–70. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bagwell, Angela & Mike Olson
2006a ‘I got my knife yet’: German imposition on Wisconsin English. Paper presented at
the Germanic linguistics annual conference
, University of Illinois, April.
Bagwell, Angela & Mike Olson
2006b Languages in contact: Uncovering the sources of German imposition on Wisconsin English. Paper presented at
the German language and immigration in International Perspective
Conference
. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bagwell, Angela, Samantha Litty & Mike Olson
Forthcoming).
Wisconsin immigrant letters: German transfer to Wisconsin English. In
Raymond Hickey ed.
Keeping in touch. Familiar letters across the English-speaking world Amsterdam John Benjamins
Benor, Sarah Bunin
2015 How synagogues became shuls. In
Janne Bondi Johannessen &
Joseph C. Salmons (eds.),
Germanic Heritage Languages in North America, 217–233. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall
(eds)
1985–2017 The dictionary of American regional English. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Curme, George O.
1922 A grammar of the German language, designed for a thoro and practical study of the language as spoken and
written to-day. 2nd edition. New York: MacMillan.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Davies, Winifried V. & Nils Langer
2006 The making of bad language. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Delahanty, Jennifer
2011 Changes in Wisconsin English over 110 Years: A real-time acoustic account. PhD thesis: University of Wisconsin – Madison.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eichhoff, Jürgen
1971 German in Wisconsin. In
Glenn Gilbert (ed.),
The German language in America: A symposium, 41–57. Austin: University of Texas Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Elspaß, Stephan
2005 Sprachgeschichte von unten: Untersuchungen zum geschriebenen Alltagsdeutsch im 19. Jahrhundert. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Frazer, Timothy C.
2006 Grammar. In
Richard Sisson,
Christian Zacher &
Andrew Clayton (eds.),
The American midwest: An interpretative encyclopedia, 291–294. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Frey, Benjamin E.
2013 Toward a general theory of language shift: A case study in Wisconsin German and North Carolina
Cherokee. PhD thesis: University of Wisconsin – Madison.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Geiger, Steven R. and Joseph C. Salmons
Hickey, Raymond
2004 Introduction. In
Raymond Hickey (ed.),
Legacies of colonial English: Studies in transported dialects, 1–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hickey, Raymond
2010 Language contact: Reconsideration and reassessment. In
Raymond Hickey (ed.),
The handbook of language contact, 1–28. Oxford: Blackwell.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Howell, Robert B.
1993 German immigration and the development of regional variants of American English: Using contact
theory to discover our roots. In
Joseph Salmons (ed.),
The German language in America, 190–212. Madison: Max Kade Institute.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Iverson, Gregory K. and Joseph C. Salmons
1995 Aspiration and laryngeal representation in Germanic.
Phonology 12. 369–396.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Johansen, Kjell
1962 A vocabulary study of Gillespie and Kendall counties, Texas. MA thesis: University of Texas at Austin.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kerswill, Paul
2002 Koineization and accommodation. In
J. K. Chambers,
Peter Trudgill, and
Natalie Schilling-Estes (eds.),
The handbook of language variation and change, 669–702. Oxford: Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Labov, William
2008 Mysteries of the substrate. In
Miriam Meyerhoff and
Naomi Nagy (eds.),
Social lives in language–sociolinguistics and multilingual speech communities: celebrating the work of
gillian sankoff, 315–326. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lippi-Green, Rosina
1997 English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. London and New York: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Litty, Samantha
2014 Variation in English VOT in three southern Wisconsin counties. Poster presented at
The Mid-Continental phonetics and phonology Conference
(
MidPhon). University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Litty, Samantha
2015 Variation in word final obstruent neutralization in Wisconsin English.
Paper presented at the sixth annual workshop on immigrant languages in the Americas
(WILA6). Uppsala, Sweden.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Litty, Samantha
2017 We talk German now yet: The sociolinguistic development of voice onset time and final obstruent
neutralization in Wisconsin German and English varieties, 1863–2013. PhD thesis: University of Wisconsin – Madison.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lockwood, William Burley
1968 Historical German syntax. Volume 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Petty, Antje
2013 Immigrant languages and education: Wisconsin’s German schools. In
Thomas Purnell,
Eric Raimy, and
Joseph Salmons (eds.),
Wisconsin talk: linguistic diversity in the badger state, 37–57. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Purnell, Thomas
2008 Prevelar raising and phonetic conditioning: The role of labial and anterior tongue
gestures.
American Speech 83 (4). 373–402.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Purnell, Thomas, Dilara Tepeli, and Joseph Salmons
2005a German substrate effects in Wisconsin English: Evidence for final fortition.
American Speech 80. 135–164.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Purnell, Thomas, Joseph Salmons, Dilara Tepeli, and Jennifer Mercer
2005b Structured heterogeneity and change in laryngeal phonetics: Upper Midwestern final
obstruents.
Journal of English linguistics 33 (4). 307–338.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Purnell, Thomas, Eric Raimy, and Joseph Salmons
(eds.)
2013 Wisconsin talk: Linguistic diversity in the badger state. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rose, Mary
2006 Language, place and identity in later life. PhD thesis: Stanford.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Salmons, Joseph
2017 Keineswegs Feinde der englischen Sprache: Deutsch, Englisch und Schulpolitik in
Wisconsin. In
Muttersprache. Zur Soziolinguistik regionaler Mehrsprachigkeit im deutschsprachigen
Raum
(Special issue ed. by
Nils Langer) (4). 310–323.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Salmons, Joseph
Forthcoming. Laryngeal phonetics, phonology, assimilation and final neutralization. In
Richard Page &
Michael T. Putnam ed.
Cambridge handbook of germanic linguistics Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Salmons, Joseph, Dilara Tepeli & Thomas Purnell
2006 Deutsche Spuren im amerikanischen Englischen? Auslautverhärtung in Wisconsin. In
Nina Berend and
Elisabeth Knipf-Komlósi (eds.),
Sprachinselwelten / The world of language islands, 205–225. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Salmons, Joseph and Thomas Purnell
forthcoming.
Language contact and the development of American English. In
Raymond Hickey ed.
The handbook of language contact 2nd edition Oxford Blackwell
Sawyer, Janet B.
1959 Aloofness from Spanish influence in Texas English.
Word 15. 270–281.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Seifert, Lester W. J.
1993 The development and survival of the German language in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In
Joseph Salmons (ed.),
The German language in America, 1683–1991, 322–337. Madison, Wis.: Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schirmunski, Viktor
1962 Deutsche Mundartkunde. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tepeli, Dilara, Joseph Salmons & Thomas Purnell
2007 Was bleibt bestehen? Der deutsche Einfluß auf das Amerikanische.” In
Josef Raab and
Jan Wirrer (ed.),
Die deutsche präsenz in den USA / The German presence in the U.S.A., 595–613. Münster: LIT Verlag.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Coetsem, Frans
2000 A general and unified theory of the transmission process in language contact. Heidelberg: Winter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Dalen, Carl
1879 Brieflicher Sprach- und Sprech-Unterricht für das Selbststudium Erwachsener: Englisch. Berlin: Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wilkerson, Miranda & Joseph Salmons
2008 Good old immigrants of yesteryear who didn’t learn English: Evidence from Germans in
Wisconsin.
American Speech 83 (3). 259–283.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wilkerson, Miranda & Joseph Salmons
2012 Linguistic marginalities: Becoming American without learning English.
Journal of Transnational American Studies 4 (2).
[URL].
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wilkerson, Miranda, Mark Livengood & Joseph Salmons
2014 The socio-historical context of imposition in substrate effects.
Journal of English linguistics 42 (4). 1–23.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wilson, Joseph B.
1980 The English spoken by German Americans in central Texas. In
Paul Schach (ed.),
Languages in conflict, 157–173. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zwicky, Arnold
2001 Counting chad. Paper presented at
the Stanford SemFest. (Handout available at
[URL].)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Salmons, Joseph & Miranda E. Wilkerson
2019.
English in German-Speaking Wisconsin and the Aftermath. In
English in the German-Speaking World,
► pp. 361 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.