The evolution of a Bilingual Discourse Marking System: Modal particles and English markers in German-American dialects

Abstract

Previous studies (Clyne, 1972, 1987; Salmons, 1990) have shown that German dialects in long-term contact with English have both borrowed key English discourse markers ( well, you know, and so on) and lost much of the native discourse- marking system of German (most notably the “modal particles”). For the study of language- contact change, discourse markers are particularly interesting, first as items in a sense on the boundary between ordinary lexical items and structural borrowing, and second because they are typically salient to bilingual speakers. This paper uses Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language- Frame model to examine new evidence on the diachronic process leading to this contemporary situation. We draw on the representation of spoken language in two German-language dramas written around the turn of the 20th century, one in Wisconsin and the other in Texas. The data suggest that English markers first entered German speech as emblematic codeswitches and eventually became established borrowings, which then paved the way for loss of the native system.