Variation in Cantonese Acceptability Judgements due to Language Contact: An Investigation of Word Order Preferences in the Resultative Construction
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Date
2024-11
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Ohio State University. Libraries
Abstract
This study investigates the acceptability of different word orders in the resultative construction among Cantonese speakers in Canada (heritage) and Hong Kong (homeland). In an auditory acceptability judgement experiment, heritage speakers of Cantonese and English-dominant speakers were found to have higher acceptance of the English-influenced Means-Object-Result word order than homeland speakers and Cantonese-dominant speakers, respectively. These results give support to models of bilingual/multilingual grammars that propose that the extent of cross-linguistic influence is proportional to language dominance (Filipović and Hawkins 2019, Putnam and Sanchez 2013). We argue that these results demonstrate a system-altering change in the grammar of heritage/English-dominant speakers due to contact with English, where the functional features of English are temporarily/permanently drawn upon despite incompatibilities between the grammars of the two languages. We discuss possible mechanisms of change within the framework of Feature Reassembly (Lardiere 2009).
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Keywords
Cantonese, heritage languages, language contact, language dominance, resultative constructions, word order, acceptability judgement, system-altering change
Citation
Leung, Justin R. and Kush, Dave. "Variation in Cantonese Acceptability Judgements due to Language Contact: An Investigation of Word Order Preferences in the Resultative Construction." Buckeye East Asian Linguistics, vol. 9 (November 2024), p. 94-113.