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Article published In: Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 12:6 (2022) ► pp.816–844

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Variation and stability of American Norwegian /r/ in contact

ORCiD logo with link | University of Oslo
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 15 April 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.20085.nat
Abstract
Sound patterns in heritage languages are often highly variable, potentially with influences from majority languages. Yet, the core phonological system of the heritage language tends to remain stable. This article considers variation in the phonetic and phonological patterns of /r/ in American Norwegian heritage language speakers from neighboring communities in western Wisconsin, in the Upper Midwestern United States. Drawing on acoustic data from speakers born between 1879 and 1957, I examine the distribution of four rhotic allophones, including an English-like approximant, over time. These data reveal an increase of approximants that is structured within the Norwegian phonological system and its processes. Furthermore, analyzing these changes with the proposed modular framework provides clarity for how heritage language sound systems do and do not change under contact and contributes to our understanding of the asymmetric phonetic and phonological heritage language patterns.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1HL phonology and rhotic variation
    • 2.2Norwegian rhotics: Patterns and acoustics
    • 2.3The modular sound system in contact
    • 2.4Stability and variability in phonetic and phonological contact
    • 2.5Hypotheses on the effects of contact on the AmNo sound system
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Data collection, processing, and evaluation
  • 4.Results: AmNo rhotic patterns over time
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Contact effects on the AmNo sound system
    • 5.2Implications for HL sound patterns
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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