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Case in Heritage Polish. A Cross-Generational Approach

Wolski-Moskoff, Izolda
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6717-6391
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573395670224938

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures.
Nominal case morphology is often considered one of the most reanalyzed elements of heritage grammar (Benmamoun et al., 2013; Montrul, 2016). Several case typologies have been put forward to investigate which cases are more vulnerable in heritage languages. The two considered in this dissertation are based solely on the internal qualities of cases. Benmamoun et al. (2013) have suggested that structural case is better preserved than inherent case, whereas Laskowski (2014) has proposed that strong cases replace weak ones in the language of Polish heritage speakers. Neither of these approaches, however, has compared divergences between the speech of heritage speakers and the language of their parents. By analyzing patterns of case use in the language of two generations of Polish immigrants, this dissertation offers new insights into nominal morphology in the Polish heritage language. It also analyzes whether any of the proposed case typologies are applicable to heritage Polish. Conducted mainly in Chicago, the study investigates the case use and knowledge of twenty-five Polish heritage speakers, twelve first-generation immigrants, and a control group of twelve monolinguals from Poland. The results show that all oblique cases are preserved in the speech of the advanced heritage speakers, albeit occurring less frequently therein than in the language of the other two groups. The lower-proficiency speakers’ decreased accuracy, meanwhile, may signify that the grammatical systems of these speakers operate on the syntactic rules of the dominant language (i.e., English). Additionally, the results of the first-generation immigrants indicate that the frequency of oblique case use in their language is much lower than in the language of the control group. To measure the use and knowledge of cases, the study employed three tasks: story elicitation, elicited sentence completion, and grammaticality judgment. The results of the tasks indicate that heritage speakers’ divergent use of cases exhibits several tendencies: (1) reassignment of case functions, especially those pertaining to the genitive, (2) allomorphic reduction in cases that display more complex morphology, such as the locative and genitive, (3) overgeneralization of one post-prepositional case, and (4) substitution of the nominative for most oblique cases in lower proficiency speakers. Most divergent patterns displayed by heritage speakers in this study apply to both case types suggested by the above-mentioned typologies. Therefore, the proposed case theories cannot predict which cases are more or less vulnerable. Instead, I argue that the patterns observed represent strategies used by heritage speakers to compensate for inadequate case knowledge and/or difficulty with case-ending retrieval, which also points to the role of cognitive economy. The patterns are different for various proficiency levels. Intermediate speakers tend to replace all oblique cases with the nominative, reduce case allomorphy, and/or rely on prepositions in case ending retrieval, whereas advanced heritage speakers tend to reduce case functions. Overall, the results of this study indicate that nominal morphology in the Polish heritage language is conditioned by the cognitive strategies heritage speakers use to maintain their language, as well as by divergent parental input characterized by less frequent use of some cases.
Ludmila Isurin (Advisor)
310 p.
Linguistics; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Slavic Studies
case, heritage language, Polish

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Citations

  • Wolski-Moskoff, I. (2019). Case in Heritage Polish. A Cross-Generational Approach [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573395670224938

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wolski-Moskoff, Izolda. Case in Heritage Polish. A Cross-Generational Approach. 2019. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573395670224938.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wolski-Moskoff, Izolda. "Case in Heritage Polish. A Cross-Generational Approach." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573395670224938

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1573395670224938
560
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.