German as a Heritage Language: Contact, Variation and Maintenance

Heritage languages are those spoken as a first language in immigrant communities where another language is dominant. This book provides a novel approach to heritage language research by focusing on German as it is spoken in a range of German-origin immigrant communities around the world. It demonstrates, using German as a unique example, how a language can develop under the influence of diverse replica languages on the one hand, and different sociolinguistic conditions on the other. It also...