TY - THES
KW - Morphology (linguistics)
KW - Waterloo
KW - Grammatical gender
KW - Pennsylvania German
KW - Dialects
KW - German (Low)
KW - language shift
AU - Michael Frank
AB - The purpose of the research presented in this dissertation is to gain insight into processes of language maintenance and shift and language change by studying the current situation of the Pennsylvania German-speaking Swiss Mennonites from the Waterloo Region in Ontario, Canada. A detailed description of the language use found among members of three different groups (conservative, moderate, and progressive) provides the basis for the sociolinguistic analysis of the factors involved in language maintenance/shift. Data collected during participant observation and interviews shows that group members' language behavior is crucially influenced by sociopsychological factors. By using ethnographic methods the study is able to discuss the 'how and why' of the stable bilingualism-plus-diglossia situation found among conservatives, and the situation of unstable bilingualism (without diglossia), which leads to language shift among moderates and progressives. Continuity and change emerge as prominent themes not only in the discussion of the sociolinguistic situation of the various Swiss Mennonite groups, but also in the investigation of linguistic phenomena in the language contact situation. Citation reproduced with permission of ProQuest C5 -C. Abridged abstract reproduced with the permission of ProQuest C5 -C. Full text available at URL below.
BT - Department of Linguistics
C4 - 1800-2011
C7 - English(30)
CY - Buffalo, NY
DA - 05/2011
DB - Dissertations and Theses Global
DP - ProQuest
ID - 3177
LA - English
M1 - Dissertation/Thesis
M3 - Print(0)
N1 - Source type: dissertations&theses; Object type: Dissertation; Object type: Thesis; CSAUnique: 2012932633; AccNum: 2012932633; DissertationNum: DA3475316; ISSN -: 0419-4209; MLA -B -ibNum: 2012-6-4836
PB - State University of New York
PP - Buffalo, NY
PY - 2011
EP - 282
T1 - Language Maintenance and Change among the Swiss Mennonites of the Waterloo Region, Ontario
T2 - Department of Linguistics
VL - PhD
ER -