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6 - Grammatical Changes

Word Order Patterns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2026

Claudia Maria Riehl
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
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Summary

This chapter gives an example of syntactic restructuring: to exemplify this process, the development of the sentence brace (Satzklammer), a very specific grammatical feature of the German language, is analyzed. The development of brace constructions in German heritage language varieties is illustrated using the same three constellations (Barossa German, Volga German and Blumenau German) as in Chapter 5. The analysis shows that the brace is less grammaticalized in the heritage varieties than in Standard German, but nevertheless, the pattern is rather stable not only between the different heritage language communities, but also across generations. An exemplary analysis of three specific brace constructions containing the most frequently used verbs demonstrates that some recurring patterns occur consistently across the three different communities. These results are discussed with reference to usage-based frameworks and individual differences between speakers showing how different features develop independently and at different speeds in the respective communities. This finding also lends support to the assumption that different processes are involved in morphological and syntactic change.

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  • Grammatical Changes
  • Claudia Maria Riehl, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Book: German as a Heritage Language
  • Online publication: 20 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009590464.008
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  • Grammatical Changes
  • Claudia Maria Riehl, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Book: German as a Heritage Language
  • Online publication: 20 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009590464.008
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Grammatical Changes
  • Claudia Maria Riehl, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • Book: German as a Heritage Language
  • Online publication: 20 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009590464.008
Available formats
×