Considering the methodological and the theoretical background, the project will apply current standards of first language attrition research (cf. e.g. contributions by Schmid et al. 2002, or Seliger/Vago 1991). We understand language attrition in line with Polinsky's (1994, 1997) definition as the complete loss or partial resorption of language competence in L1 (though not by physiologic or pathologic means). We maintain a broad view of attrition irrespective of whether the deviations from L1 result from an incomplete acquisition in childhood (type 'incomplete learners') or the 'forgetting' of underlying structures over time (type 'forgetters'). The most relevant deviations for the present case are those which result from German being the dominant language of the subjects' environment.
Due to the fact that an adequate corpus of the variety of Polish spoken in Germany has yet to be established, data must first be gathered to be analysed in our survey. In order to obtain significant results in spite of a limited time-frame we will mainly use elicited data. To this end we will conduct cross-sectional research on Polish language use. The main objective of this project will be a qualitative analysis of the material, whereas the quantitative aspects will only apply when comparing the presence or absence of the tested for structural features between the recorded idiolects.
The newly surveyed data will be divided into three categories: (1) each of the subjects will provide a short sample of spontaneous speech. This type of data will be gathered by means of short interviews about the subject's (language) biography and through story-telling tasks addressing various topics (holidays, favourite book or film, etc.); (2) Systematically elicited speech data; A picture story will be presented to the subjects, who will then be asked to describe it in their own words. This design was chosen in order to provide data for direct comparison of the speech performance of the individual subjects; (3) Grammaticality judgements: Finally, each subject will be confronted with sentences to be judged for acceptability. In addition to correct test sentences, the sample will contain data which will include German influences on relevant linguistic levels (morphology, syntax).
The combination of these three methods will guarantee the quick and precise obtainment of relevant data. Furthermore, this procedure can help us gain insight into actual speech production (data type 1 and 2) and at the same time broaden our knowledge of the underlying grammatical rules (data type 3). In this way we will be able to answer the question of whether the expected reduction of the system applies to performance only or if it affects the subject's competence as well. We expect the subjects to perform better in terms of grammaticality judgements, if their competence is not affected by German influence.
In order to investigate a possible hierarchy of domains affected by structural attrition we will need a small corpus containing speech data from a control group. Subjects of the control group will also be residents of Germany but who completed school in Poland and whose language acquisition has thus been accompanied by instructed input.
We will simultaneously establish a small corpus with speech data from another control group of subjects who are monolingual in Polish. This will provide us with insight into possible deviations in selected morphological and syntactic categories. It will also help to clarify which deviations are due to German influence and which underlie internal processes of linguistic development.
Structures
The survey will consider the following phenomena:
- Changes in the case system: reduction of cases which are absent in German (e.g. the instrumental case in Polish) and replacement of synthetic case morphology by analytic combinations of preposition + case respectively;
- Changes in the expression of verbal aspect;
- Attrition of or redistribution in the gender system;
- Change in verb government following German rules;
- Frequent usage of a personal pronoun in subject position in Polish, which is a pro-drop language;
- Development of article-like functions using the numeral jeden 'one' and the demonstrative pronoun ten 'this';
- Influences in word order (e.g. imitation of the so-called German "Satzklammer" consisting of modal auxiliary + infinitive combinations).
Any additional structures significantly affected by German as the language of the subjects' wider environment will be considered in our analysis.
