‘Semi-speakerness’ is a phenomenon quite wide-spread in language islands, especially when (i) in small communities a stronger standard comes to exert a huge pressure on the minority language, and (ii) the process of language death takes place very slowly (DORIAN 1981). It manifests itself through a partly (or even severely) eroded competence in the production of the minority language displaying deviant morphological forms (deficient paradigms and the tendency to eliminate irregularities and marked forms by the process of analogical leveling) and a skewed syntax. The first aim of our paper is to present data from semi-speakers’ Cimbrian offering an analysis that supports the idea that in their language competence some subparts of the CP layer are ‘inactivated’ or inaccessible (focalization and dlinking or familiarity topics) whereas other parts of the CP layer (wh-movement) show a higher capacity to survive. The second aim is to explain the significance of such an investigation for the theory of grammar.

Erodierte Sprachstrukturen und Grammatiktheorie: zur Morphosyntax der semi-speakers in der zimbrischen Sprachenklave Lusérn und ihrer Bedeutung für die Sprachtheorie

Bidese, Ermenegildo;Padovan, Andrea
2012-01-01

Abstract

‘Semi-speakerness’ is a phenomenon quite wide-spread in language islands, especially when (i) in small communities a stronger standard comes to exert a huge pressure on the minority language, and (ii) the process of language death takes place very slowly (DORIAN 1981). It manifests itself through a partly (or even severely) eroded competence in the production of the minority language displaying deviant morphological forms (deficient paradigms and the tendency to eliminate irregularities and marked forms by the process of analogical leveling) and a skewed syntax. The first aim of our paper is to present data from semi-speakers’ Cimbrian offering an analysis that supports the idea that in their language competence some subparts of the CP layer are ‘inactivated’ or inaccessible (focalization and dlinking or familiarity topics) whereas other parts of the CP layer (wh-movement) show a higher capacity to survive. The second aim is to explain the significance of such an investigation for the theory of grammar.
2012
Perspektiven Vier: Akten der 4. Tagung Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft in Italien: Rom, 4.-6 Februar 2010
Frankfurt am Main
Peter Lang
9783631616512
9783653016116
Bidese, Ermenegildo; Padovan, Andrea
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
DiMeola_12.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Post-print referato (Refereed author’s manuscript)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione 195.57 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
195.57 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/87308
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact