Publications

Publication details [#54242]

Kivik, Piibi-Kai. 2010. Personal pronoun variation in language contact. Estonian in the United States. In Jonge, Bob de, Muriel Norde and Cornelius Hasselblatt, eds. Language Contact. New perspectives. (IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society 28). John Benjamins. pp. 63–86.
Publication type
Article in book
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins

Annotation

The paper investigates variation in the form of personal pronouns in the informal speech of Estonians living in the United States (N = 23). VARBRUL analysis determined the factors influencing the variation of long and short form of personal pronoun and zero vs. pronominal subject. Three groups of speakers differed significantly: the late bilingual older WWII refugees, the early bilingual younger WWII refugees and the late bilingual recent immigrants. All speakers had maintained the functional long/short variation. The older refugees preferred long forms, possibly indicating a change in the monolingual community. The early bilingual speakers preferred overt pronouns, suggesting a language contact effect. The age of immigration, extent of education in L1 and L1/L2 use in networks appeared to correlate with patterns of pronoun use